Policeman Jailed For S*xual Abuse

A former Met Police officer who repeatedly raped three teenage girls, who didn’t report him for years because of his job, has been jailed for 24 years.

Gatekeepers News reports that Anthony Smith, 56, carried out the attacks between 1993 and 1997 with one victim who said she felt ‘worthless and terrified’.

Surrey Police said offences were committed against the three girls when they were between 13 and 17 years old.

Smith left the force in 2004 after he was convicted of gross indecency with a child in an unrelated matter.

An investigation was finally launched in 2020 when one of his victims came forward to report she had been abused by Smith as a teenager.

The other two complainants came forward shortly afterwards, Guildford Crown Court heard.

During the trial in June, they all described how Smith s*xually abused and raped them repeatedly.

One of the victims described how Smith controlled her, saying he made her feel ‘worthless and terrified’.

Describing the impact the abuse had on her life, she said: “To the outside world you were a pillar of the community, a shining example of a police officer – yet here you were, abusing your position of trust, making me feel powerless, guilty and ashamed of what I was being made to do.

“Feelings of guilt, shame and anxiety are my ‘normal’ and I struggle every day to fight this.

“I have carried the shame of being an abuse victim around with me throughout my life and this has negatively impacted my intimate relationships.

“Even though I know that the abuse was not my fault, the shame never fully leaves a childhood s*xual abuse survivor.”

Smith, of Weybridge, Surrey, denied but was convicted of 13 charges of rape and sexual assault against the three victims following a three-week trial.

He had worked as a swimming teacher in Llandudno, Wales, prior to joining the Met in 1987 and was a serving officer throughout the abuse.

Detective Sergeant Matt Cable, from Surrey Police’s Sexual Offences Investigation Team, said: “We launched an investigation after one of the victims came forward and reported the abuse she had suffered at the hands of Smith.

“This led to a further two victims coming forward and resulted in an in-depth and complex inquiry with a significant number of allegations of serious s*xual abuse, including rape, which had spanned many years.

“As a police officer at the time of his offending, Smith was in a position of power which meant that his victims did not feel they were able to speak out about what he had done to them until many years later.

“The sentence he has received today reflects the extent of his predatory behaviour in the way he targeted young girls and used them for his own gratification.

“To see him behind bars will hopefully enable these three women to move on with their lives in the knowledge that he has finally been brought to justice for his heinous and indefensible crimes.

“I would like to reassure anyone who has suffered any form of s*xual abuse that you will always be listened to and all allegations will be thoroughly investigated.”