Former Met officer Mark Tyrrell guilty of rape and sexual assault

Mixed · 2Mark Tyrrell, 57, a former Metropolitan Police officer, was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of one count of rape, three of sexual assault and one of perverting the course of justice. 1 2 Mixed · 2The victim, a woman he met through his work as an officer, cannot be identified for legal reasons. The court heard he had sex with her after she repeatedly said no, then asked her: "Do you realise that what I've just done, that was rape?" 1 2 Mixed · 2Prosecutor Catherine Farrelly KC said that when the woman resisted his advances "he simply chose to take what he wanted". Concerns were first raised when officers visiting her home on an unrelated matter found him hiding beside her bed. 1 2

Mixed · 2In one message he apologised for "being a sex offender" and "for ruining your life by being in it". The perverting-the-course-of-justice conviction relates to his attempt to delete messages with the woman. 1 2 Mixed · 2Giving evidence, Tyrrell said sex between them was always consensual and "there was never any forcefulness to it". Jurors cleared him of 13 other charges, which the BBC lists as one count of rape, four of assault by penetration and eight of sexual assault. 1 2 Mixed · 2He had already admitted misconduct in public office and a separate count of perverting the course of justice, for persuading the woman to lie to police about why he was in her bedroom. 1 2

Mixed · 2Tyrrell, of Meltham, West Yorkshire, had been attached to the Met's Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, where the convicted rapists Wayne Couzens and David Carrick also served. He resigned in September 2023 after being arrested and suspended, and will be sentenced on 16 December. 1 2 Mixed · 2Ch Supt Sara Leach of the Met said the conduct was "abhorrent but even more so when it is carried out by a serving officer, who had gained the trust of the victim", adding: "We remain appalled that someone like this was serving within our organisation." 1 2 Mixed · 2Couzens kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard, 33, in 2021 and has a whole-life order. Carrick, a former armed officer, is serving life sentences for attacks on more than a dozen women; the BBC gives 36 life sentences and the Guardian 37. 1 2