Policeman Jailed For Raping Female Officer

A Metropolitan Police Constable, who raped a WPC after an all-night pub leaving party for a Sergeant, was jailed for four years and six weeks yesterday.

PC Ireland Teddington Murdock, 27, then illegally looked-up the confidential Met CRIS system to see if he had been reported for any offence. 

He was convicted by an Inner London Crown Court jury of one count of raping the female officer in the bedroom of her shared Clapham flat in the early hours of September 25, 2021.

Before the trial he pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorised access to computer material when Murdock says he tried for two minutes to access details of the complaint at 2am.

At the time PC Murdock - known as ‘Ted’ - of Hillside, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, a former police cadet, was attached to the Central North Command Unit, having joined the Met in January, 2019.

Chief Superintendent Andy Carter, head of the Unit said: “Murdock committed an absolutely atrocious offence and caused his victim a lot of pain and fear. He betrayed everything we stand for and I am disgusted by his actions.”

Recorder of Southwark Judge  Usha Karu told Murdock yesterday: “Having been to some leaving drinks you were both intoxicated when you returned to her flat and you forcefully penetrated her.

“You knew full well she had not consented to that and it was sufficient to cause her pain and there was blood on the bedsheets. The WhatsApp messages make it clear there was penetration without consent.

“You checked the police system to see if any crime had been reported against you. It was restricted and you could not access it.

“She has plainly been severely adversely impacted,” added the judge after hearing the victim impact statement in which the victim said: “Reporting what he did was extremely difficult and very isolating at work.

“It felt like I was being treated that being raped made me unfit to do my job.”

The officer was moved to a desk role at another police station. “She said she felt violated emotionally and physically,” added Judge Karu. “She suffered anxiety, heart palpitations and nightmares.”  

Murdock told the trial he started drinking at the Abbey Tavern pub, Kentish Town at 4pm and continued until closing-time when he left with the WPC.

Describing himself as “six out of ten” drunk at the end of the night PC Murdock told the jury the woman joined the party during the evening. “She was bought a drink and bought herself drinks.

“She said she had some catching up to do and at that point I was tipsy,” he explained.

Afterwards, the pair waited for an Uber at a nearby bus stop outside the pub. “She was sitting on my lap. We were kissing and I was touching her over her clothes.”

PC Murdock admitted touching the woman between her legs at the bus stop, while another officer with them was urinating out of sight around the corner.

“She was reciprocating in an enjoyable way and I attempted to put my hand under her clothing, under her jeans, but I stopped because she did not want our colleague to see.”

The female officer told the jury she consented to sexual activity, but not to all of PC Murdock’s behaviour in her bedroom that night.

“I was happy and she seemed to be the same,” he told the court. “We kissed at the end of the bed and started undressing each other.”

PC Murdock said consensual sex followed, denying he raped the woman.

He conceded at one point she “jolted forward” and said: “Ted, woah,” but the sexual activity continued.

PC Murdock stayed the night, but admitted there was a strained atmosphere the following morning.

“I turned towards her to give her a hug and she pushed me away. She said that she was not happy with what happened last night.

“I was confused and I stayed silent for about ten minutes. It is something I do, I clam up.

“I said: ‘I won’t stay here if there’s an atmosphere. Do you want me to leave?’ and then I left.

The pair exchanged tense WhatsApp messages over the following days. “She was implying she was not happy and I believed on the night that she was.

“She was clearly upset and I wanted to fix it,” added PC Murdock, who sent one message to the WPC which read: “You’re wording things like I’m a rapist and that’s p***ing me off.”

Earlier the officer told the jury he changed his middle name by deed poll to ‘Teddington’ because that is the area of south-west London where his late mother was laid to rest.

He said he had a challenging childhood involving an alcoholic mother, foster care and being raised by his older sister.

Since being fired by the Met he worked as a cleaner and landscaper and his engaged to a woman who has supported him throughout the trial.

That was his motivation for the name change in May, 2019, PC Murdock explained. “It was an attempt to cut ties with that part of my family.”

The female officer did not request to be screened from the defendant and told the jury from the witness box: “I said something like: ‘Woah’ or ‘Stop’ I can’t remember.”

She did not report PC Murdock immediately and several month passed before she complained. “I did not feel safe to report it, we were always together,” she told the investigating officers in a  video recorded police interview.

“In a ten day work period we would be together eight or nine days.”

The officer said she had to change her bedsheets after the rape. “I got rid of them right after. There was just a lot of little bloody spots.”

She did not seek any medical treatment, adding: “I did not want to go to a GP and have questions raised. I was embarrassed.

“I was fairly numb to it. There was no proper thought after the incident.”

However, she insisted PC Murdock’s intentions in the bedroom were clear that night. “He was definitely positioning himself and then he tried again.”

She went to work the next day, but said it was a challenging shift. “It was difficult. It hurt to sit down and I was in pain and it was dawning on me what happened.

“He said he did not remember anything because he was so drunk.

“He was drunk that night. His speech was all slurred. He was not falling over or anything, but it was obvious he had quite a lot to drink.

“On the day it happened I rang one of my flatmates to say he did something last night I was not happy with.”

When they woke up that morning PC Murdock admits he went in for a cuddle, but was shunned by the woman. “I told him that he really hurt me last night.”

The trial heard the female officer informally reported PC Murdock for rape to her professional colleagues during a pub quiz night on January 9, 2022 - over three months later.

Fellow officers described her as crying as she revealed the details, saying she was hesitant to say anything earlier because PC Murdock knows where she lives and works and her parents’ address.

The PC Murdock was investigated by the Serious Sexual Offences Department - commonly  known as Sapphire - based at Brixton Police Station.

The jury heard the WhatsApp messages exchanged between PC Murdock and the complainant the day after in which she tells him: “I’m in a stupid amount of pain.”

PC Murdock replied: “You’re treating me like a sex offender,” and: “Just say Ted is a rapist.”

He told his arresting officers: “I didn’t do it. I’m not a rapist,” a court heard.

Yesterday, Murdock’s lawyer Luke Ponte said: “He was proud to join the police to turn away from his upbringing and make a life for himself.

“As the defendant is fragile and as he is going into prison for the first time it resonates with him and this can be taken into account in sentencing. He was noted by the police as a suicide risk on his arrest.”

Judge Karu, remarked on Murdock’s version of events. “I wholly and completely reject that mechanism of how that happened.”

Murdock received four years for the rape, plus six weeks for the unauthorised computer access and must sign the sex offenders register.

His sentenced will be discounted by 44 days due to his time under bail curfew.

Guilty: Late Queen's Ex-Verger Admits Abusing Boys

The late Queen’s former verger was told yesterday he faces years of imprisonment after finally admitting he molested two thirteen year-old boys decades go.

Clive McCleester, 77, once served at Windsor Castle’s St. George’s Chapel and oversaw visitors to the Queen Mother’s tomb.

At Inner London Crown Court he pleaded guilty to multiple accounts of abusing the victims in the sixties, seventies and eighties, with counts reflecting his time at a school and Southwark Cathedral.

 

McCleester, who lives in the Grade I-listed Hospital of St. Cross almshouse in St. Cross Road, Winchester, was told he will receive a “lengthy term of imprisonment” when he returns for sentencing on July 10.

He first appeared in court in April, last year and finally admitted his crimes today, which include the abuse of one victim who is now deceased.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) won a court ruling allowing that complainant’s video-recorded evidence to go before the jury if there was a trial.

McCleester pleaded guilty to three counts of indecently assaulting that deceased male on multiple occasions between January 1, 1968 and December 18, 1970.

He pleaded not guilty to five similar counts and the (CPS) will not proceed to a trial.

The counts reflect his time employed as a child welfare officer at Tylney Hall School, Hampshire between 1960 and 1971.

McCleester lived at the boarding school in his own private residence, with a particular role in looking after the victim after the death of the boy’s grandmother.

That complainant went to the police after speaking with a counsellor, but sadly passed away in August, 2020.

McCleester pleaded guilty to four counts of indecently assaulting the second victim between July 28, 1986 and July 27, 1987 and three counts of indecency with a child between the same dates.

He pleaded not guilty to three counts of indecent assault, regarding the second victim, not guilty to an attempted sexual offence and the CPS will not proceed.

This victim was a Southwark Cathedral choirboy, abused at McCleester’s flat within the vicarage.

While at St. George’s Chapel McCleester organised royal funerals and was responsible for the day-to-day management of the chapel.

Judge Rosina Cottage KC announced: “The matter clearly needs to go off for sentence. Clearly it is inevitably going to be custodial sentence, whatever his health.

“Usually the only issue in cases like this are one of dangerousness. This happened a long time ago, but that is not to say there is not a risk.

“This will be a considerable sentence and given his age a pre-sentence report will not be helpful as long as there are medical reports before he is placed in custody for a long time.”

McCleester’s lawyer David Richard told the court: “He came back with these pleas of his own accord. He was not pushed into a corner.

“The pleas are his recollection of what happened.

“He has not put his matters in order and we ask for time to allow him to sort his affairs out. 

“He has appeared on bail today, knowing the guilty pleas will result in a lengthy custodial sentence.

“The almshouse are happy for him to come back. They have known about these proceedings in any event.”

The judge told McCleester, who now walks with the aid of a stick: “You know you will need to be sentenced and you will be receiving a lengthy term of imprisonment.

“I will grant you bail today so you can sort out your circumstances before you come back to court and you can see your GP.

“I make no promises because I am giving you bail. In fact, you have already been told you are going to receive a lengthy term of imprisonment.”

Jailed: Producer Host Who Groped Female Guest

The music producer host of an intimate wine and movie night has received four-and-a-half years for molesting his investment specialist guest, who woke to find his hand inside her knickers.

The woman says her breasts were also groped by fellow graduate Jacques Foce, 33, who wanted her to join  a threesome with his fiancé and later texted: “Thanks for a great night.”

The Cass Business School graduate, who is employed by a global investment company told the Inner London Crown Court jury: “He had unbuttoned and unzipped my jeans.

“He was moving his fingers under my trousers, under my underwear. I was frozen, I was in shock.” 

South African native Foce, of Heyford Avenue, Nine Elms, Lambeth, a former sound engineer for Cape Town’s Smile FM, was unanimously found guilty of five counts of sexual assault in the early hours of July 4, 2020.

“When in drink you decided to take advantage. You clearly intended to make some kind of move and I dare say you hoped she would respond positively,” Recorder Darren Reed told him.

“When she was asleep and in no position to consent you unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans and sexually assaulted her.

“You knew what you had done, but denied the offences and lied to the police and to this court and forced her to give evidence.”

The trial heard the woman had been invited over to the converted Victorian flat Foce shared with his absent long-term girlfriend for the evening, confirming via text: “I’m easy as long as it involves wine.”

Describing Foce, a graduate of Cape Audio College, to the jury she said: “He would always hug people when they walked into the room and he calls everyone ‘hon’ or ‘darling.’”

She fell asleep on the sofa next to host Foce, but was woken just after midnight by his actions, she told the trial.

“It was the sensation of his hand,” she explained, describing Foce touching her between her legs. ‘It took me a while to put two and two together of what was happening to me and I was scared.

“I did not think he was capable of doing this to me. I did not know what else he was capable of doing so just thought it was safe just to take it.

“He continued to rub me, stopping and starting,” confirming she did not shout at Foce or tell him to stop.

“He was touching me and then left the room in a hurry and when he came back he touched my face, he kissed my forehead, stroked my face and touched my hair.

“When he finished he turned on the light and said: ‘Wakey, wakey’ and shook me awake.”

She told the jury Foce encouraged her to sleepover in the spare bedroom. “He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. It terrified me.”

Prosecutor Mark Trafford KC told the jury: “The defendant is known to be charming and a hugger, to be tactile,” and had once suggested the reluctant complainant join him in a threesome with his long-term girlfriend.

He had complained to the woman he and his girlfriend were not “compatible in the bedroom” and needed to do something “out there,” the court heard.

“On the evening they had both been drinking, they had a glass or two of wine and she fell asleep,” explained the prosecutor. “When she woke up on the sofa she found her jeans unzipped and her trousers slightly down.”

Foce’s hand was between her legs, the KC told the jurors. “She was totally shocked and frozen by this and she feigned sleep, keeping her eyes closed in the hope it would stop.

“He then stopped and zipped up her jeans and then within seconds unzipped them again and carried on.

“Then he touched her breasts and her face and kissed her. She was completely frozen by this.”

Later Foce sent her text, which read: “I’m such an a***hole. I woke up hoping it was all a bad dream. I’m sorry.”

“I am so sorry I’ve done this, but really want to fix this.”

In her victim impact statement the woman said she had suffered “significant damage to her career and psyche,” adding that night she “felt dirty and ashamed.”

Foce’s lawyer Oliver Kirk told the court: “There are a wealth of character references and they are the tip of the iceberg.

“This was a spontaneous, unplanned aberration three years ago by a defendant, who was of good character and has lost that in the most ignominious way.

“He accepts his convictions and is no longer in denial even though it is late in the day and is a man the courts are very unlikely to see ever again.

“He is very well thought of and is described as a’kind’ and ‘dependable’ and his fiancé of the time continues to support him.”

Recorder Reed added: “You moved the conversation to a sexual one and there was talk of a threesome and you took advantage of her cracking her neck to massage her.

“I have no doubt alcohol impacted your behaviour that night and as she slept you unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans.

“She was frozen and in shock and was scared and realised she did not know you at all and she thought it was safer to ‘take it’ and ‘take it’ is what she had to do.

“She was fully aware of what was happening and was awake, but pretended to be asleep and says the whole ordeal laster twenty minutes.

“When you heard about the complaint a witness says your face went white and you were clearly trying to apologise to the complainant, because you realised what you had done.

“She was particularly vulnerable and this was a sustained incident. Not only was she asleep, but she was also alone in a storage house in an area of London she was unfamiliar with and with a man she realised she did not know.

“You clearly took advantage of the situation and you told the Probation Officer you were remorseful for your actions although you could not remember and were in drink.

“It is obvious your conviction will bring great shame,” added the Recorder, ordering Foce to sign the sex offenders register for life and imposing an indefinite restraining order, prohibiting him contacting the victim.

Foce wrote a letter to Recorder Reed, saying: “I feel extremely ashamed and embarrassed and I am sorry for any harm that may have been caused.

“I am very sorry that she has had to go through this awful process.”

Foce will have to serve a minimum of three years in custody before he can be considered for parole.