// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Detective raped by colleague says Met handling of case 'like being raped again'
Watch: Met chief Rowley not fit for job, says Linda Williams
A Metropolitan Police detective, who was raped by a fellow officer, has told the BBC that Scotland Yard's handling of her case was "like being raped all over again".
Det Con Linda Williams was attacked in 2004 by PC David Carrick - a serial abuser jailed for life in 2023 for sexual offences against her and 11 other women.
Linda has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of the attack and sought damages from the Met for failing to protect her from Carrick. The lengthy civil case left her feeling suicidal, she says.
The "worst thing", she says, was when lawyers acting for the Met commissioner challenged the severity of her PTSD on the basis that she had been raped only once.
The Met has told the BBC it "tried to reduce further distress and re-traumatisation to DC Williams' welfare and has aimed to deal with her claims as quickly and compassionately as possible".
"We recognise the unique and additional impact on DC Linda Williams, whose exposure to Carrick came as a result of her being a Met officer," the force added. "Her continued commitment to public service, in spite of the trauma she experienced, is commendable."
Linda, who has waived her legal right to anonymity to speak to the BBC, has settled her civil case and the Met has now paid her compensation without acceptance of liability.
In an unprecedented move for a serving officer, she is now calling publicly for Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley to resign. She believes he has failed to change police culture as promised and she still does not trust her own force to handle cases like hers.
When he took on the most important job in UK policing in 2022, Sir Mark pledged to change the Met. At the time, the force was viewed as being in crisis - following Sarah Everard's murder by a serving officer and other scandals including officers sharing photos of murdered sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman.