Woman who alleged gang rape 'failed' as 4 police officers resign

Nottinghamshire Police's headquarters in Sherwood Lodge Drive, Nottinghamshire(Image: Joseph Raynor/ Reach PLC) Four Nottinghamshire Police officers have resigned after an incident in which a serving constable admits he and his colleagues "failed" a woman who alleged gang rape. Six police officers attended an incident in the early hours of New Year's Day 2025 in Nottingham where a man alleged that a woman had assaulted him in his property. Police arrived to find a woman in the Nottingham city centre flat in bed with another man, with two other men also in the room. The woman soon began making allegations that the three men in the room had raped her - yet the incident ended without any of the men being arrested and without an alleged rape incident even being recorded on the police log. The only person arrested was the woman herself on suspicion of "breach of the peace" - with the officer responsible saying he did so because he "didn't know what else to do". It was only when the woman called Nottinghamshire Police days later that the rape allegations were properly recorded and a professional standards investigation was opened into the six officers she originally dealt with. Four of the six officers have now resigned, one of them seemingly minutes before a misconduct hearing was held into the matter at Nottinghamshire Police's headquarters on Monday (March 23). For the two officers still serving, one accepts his conduct amounted to gross misconduct, whilst the other only accepts the lower level of misconduct as he claims he never heard the woman allege rape. The allegation is that all six of the officers in question breached standards of behaviour by not making any attempts to safeguard the woman, to arrest the suspects, preserve the scene, or treat the woman with respect and dignity. The woman, described as 'intoxicated' by officers, was eventually left to walk alone through Nottingham city centre whilst New Year's celebrations were still in full swing on what was described as a 'busy' night for incidents. The misconduct hearing that began on Monday, chaired by Assistant Chief Constable Gary Hooks, related to all six of the officers who attended the scene. Four of those officers, two of who cannot be named due to reporting restrictions imposed, have resigned. Nottinghamshire Police's legal representative said Lucie Willett was a former PC "as of 9.25am this morning", with the hearing getting underway at around 9.30am. Former 'Police Officer D' admits all the allegations and accepts they amount to gross misconduct, whilst former 'Police Officer E' rejects the allegations, owing to the fact that he also denies hearing the woman's complaint of rape. Former PC George Ginger denies the allegations "owing to the fact of his inexperience" and that he was relying on the advice of more senior colleagues. Former PC Lucie Willett admits the allegations and that they amount to gross misconduct, with the exception that she failed to treat the rape complainant with dignity and respect. Only the two serving Nottinghamshire Police officers attended Monday's hearing, with PC Daniel Mitchell admitting the allegations and that they amount to gross misconduct. Much of Monday's evidence centred on PC Jake Self, who denies the bulk of allegations, given that he says he did not hear the woman's rape allegations. The PC did admit some misconduct though given that, having taken charge of the original assault complaint, he did not hold a proper debrief with colleagues to ascertain the full details of the incident. The incident began with a call at 1.38am from the man who told police a woman had assaulted him, with officers turning up to the scene at 1.45am. Steven Reed, acting as the legal representative for Nottinghamshire Police, opened Monday's hearing by saying: "There are issues about the confidence communities have with the police in terms of when they report, the complainant won't be believed and won't be taken seriously. "Tragically, as we know complainants must have confidence in the police, otherwise many complainants then withdraw. "Doing nothing is not an option, you won't find that anywhere in [Nottinghamshire Police] policy. "The question therefore is why, knowing all this, the officers did nothing, because it's not disputed and it couldn't be disputed by anybody as to what should have been done - but it wasn't done." Nottinghamshire Police is known as the 'appropriate authority' in misconduct hearings and given the need for anonymity, the woman was referred to in proceedings as Female A, and the man who first alleged assault was referred to as Male B. Mr Reed added: "The critical factor is whether each individual knew of the rape allegation made by Female A or not. The appropriate authority's case is that the totality of the body-worn footage shows that each officer was aware of the allegation of rape." Mr Reed said that Female A informed former PC D, former PC Willett and former PC Ginger that she had been raped shortly after officers attended. Body-worn camera footage played at Monday's hearing showed officers arriving and the woman becoming visibly upset as she alleged rape and said the men in the room had stolen her cigarettes, with the woman and all men in the room described as 'intoxicated'. Officers repeatedly asked the woman, who was naked from the waist down, to put some trousers on so they could speak to her outside of the property and away from her alleged attackers. The woman was described as not co-operating with the request, hence former PC Ginger arresting her for breaching the peace. The woman was later 'de-arrested', in the words of Assistant Chief Constable Hooks. Yet Mr Reed argued that PC Jason Self would have also heard the woman make comments including "he's raped me and he's battered me", then later "he's a nasty person and he's raped me tonight". Yet PC Self, who gave evidence at Monday's hearing, explained why he never heard the woman allege rape, even though he was in the same room and directly opposite her at points, by saying: "It was just a lot of shouting about tobacco and trousers, it was extremely chaotic. There were eight people in that room at this point. "In such a confined space, it's hard to understand what anyone's actually saying and it was just shouting." PC Self says that as the fifth officer to enter the flat and with his colleagues already engaging with the woman, his focus was on trying to deal with the male who originally called in about the assault. The officer says he was also keeping a close eye on one of the other men in the room, who he quickly identified as a "serious city centre prolific offender". Because of his focus on these men, PC Self claims he never heard any of the woman's comments about rape whilst he was in the room with her and, for the bulk of the incident, he went into a separate kitchen room with the man who made the assault complaint. "I was under the understanding that she was arrested for breach of the peace, but that's where it starts and ends," PC Self said. "Throughout the whole incident, there's been no information passed to say that Female A has alleged she's been raped. "When I've got outside, nobody has gone 'oh by the way Jake you might want to know this'. At no point was any of that said to myself, so unfortunately, I can't react to information I'm not given. "It's quite clear that everyone she's alleged has raped her needs arresting. That is just the bread and butter of policing." The only thing that PC Self did accept he should have done was take more responsibility of the incident, having taken charge of the assault complaint, by holding a debrief with officers outside. The officer accepts if he did so, he might then have learnt of the rape allegations, which he in fact says he first found out about when being served papers related to the misconduct proceedings. PC Self added: "I want to apologise to Female A and I do accept my responsibility within this incident that I have let her down. "I also want to apologise towards Nottinghamshire Police, for the action that I've taken in this incident has also let the force down. "As a collective that night, we all got it wrong within some respects. I take my responsibility of not going outside and asking more questions, not opening it up. "This has been the longest 16 months of my life and I've had so much time to reflect about what I would do going forward and it would never happen again." The woman was led into the property's hallway after being arrested and, despite officers promising they would speak to her properly when they got her outside, that did not happen. Steven Reed added: "When they go outside, PC Willett gives a bag to Female A and says 'that's your bag' and them Female A is allowed to walk away. "She knows at that time that Female A has made rape allegations multiple times and yet she allows her to walk away, which again the appropriate authority says is a failure to treat the rape complainant with respect and dignity." The incident was eventually stood down at 2.25am and it was on January 6 when the woman got back in touch with police about a different incident and the rape allegations were "properly progressed", Mr Reed told the hearing. The hearing was adjourned and will continue on Tuesday (March 24) and it will eventually conclude the actions, if any, to be taken against the two serving Nottinghamshire Police officers. It will also conclude the actions, if any, that would have been taken against the four former officers if they had not already left Nottinghamshire Police.