Former London police officer jailed for 16 years for rape

A former London police officer was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Tuesday for raping a woman and teenage girl, the latest in a series of shocking cases that have damaged public trust in the capital’s force.

Adam Provan, 44, was sentenced to 16 years with a further eight on extended licence for multiple rapes across eight years against a 16-year-old girl and a female police officer.

“I am sure the public will be as shocked and revolted at Provan’s offences as we are here,” Louisa Rolfe, Assistant Commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, said in a statement.

“He abused his position as a police officer to win the trust of both these women. His actions are utterly deplorable.”

The offences were all committed while Provan was a serving officer.

Rolfe said the force was examining Provan’s history in the Met to “fully understand whether we could have acted sooner to bring him before the courts, or have stopped him joining the police”.

Britain’s biggest police force is under pressure to reform and address widespread public concern about its officers. Earlier this year an independent review found the force was institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic and unable to police itself.

That review was commissioned in 2021 after a serving officer was sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a young woman.

The public outcry following that case has brought numerous other examples of criminality and misconduct in the police service to light.