A POLICE diversity drive let sexual predators and violent offenders serve as officers or support staff, a review reveals.
The Metropolitan Police approved applicants from minority groups who failed vetting, just to boost its recruitment targets under former PM Boris Johnson.
They included rapist Cliff Mitchell, who is now serving 17 and a half years behind bars for 13 counts of rape, including three against a child under 13.
When he applied, he had been investigated for child rape but the case had been dropped.
Mitchell, 26, who is black, failed vetting but a panel overturned the decision to let him join to boost diversity quotas.
In all, 114 vetting decisions were overruled by the panel, with 25 of those involved going on to commit criminal offences or other misconduct.
Some were not checked against police terrorism records.
Out of 1,450 officers who were not vetted to today’s standards, 131 went on to commit crimes.
Checks on officers joining from other forces were waived.
This meant serial rapist David Carrick, now serving 37 life sentences, was not subject to investigations which would have spotted domestic abuse claims.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “Abandoning vetting was a dereliction of the Met’s duty to keep London safe.”
