The murder of Sarah Everard by Wayne Couzens, a serving police officer – one who had already been reported for indecent exposure and was nicknamed “the rapist” by colleagues – has put sexual misconduct by the police back under the spotlight. I felt disgusted by him and disgusted with myself. He’d used me, gained my trust and now he was gone – and all that promise of support, the feeling that someone was going to help me, all that was gone too. “After that, I emailed him and messaged, but heard nothing,” says Brookes. He held such sway.” After one spell of ghosting, on an evening in December 2016, Lumb texted to say he was in a nearby pub, could he drop in? He arrived late, the two drank wine, finally had sex for the first and only time – and then he left. “There were times, out of the blue, when he’d disappear – he wouldn’t reply to my texts and I’d panic. Then they kissed goodbye too.īrookes says Lumb played with her. Someone with the power to help finally seemed to care – every time he came, he lifted my spirits.” They began to hug goodbye. “He’d turn off his police radio, take off his boots, his utility belt and sit on the sofa in his trousers, socks and police polo shirt. “I began to see him as a friend,” says Brookes. He gave me hope.”Īfter this visit, Lumb phoned most days. He said he couldn’t believe it was still happening. He’d call West Midlands police about Rimell himself. He said he’d got it all wrong and would make it up to me. “I showed him the abuse live as it was happening,” says Brookes. Lumb emailed, then phoned and then visited. “The actions of one abusive police officer are what led me straight to another one.” “If it wasn’t so serious and tragic, it would be bloody funny,” says Brookes, 54, who lives in Brighton. Only one person responded: Inspector Tony Lumb. By now she had been diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety and depression. On one desperate day in 2016, Brookes emailed every officer from the Metropolitan and Sussex police forces who had ever touched the case to tell them how let down she felt. (Rimell said he had “learned a salutary lesson”.) He was given a “final written warning”, allowed to keep his job and faced no criminal charges.

In a 2013 misconduct hearing, he claimed he had not intended to offend, only to make “comical” remarks. One turned out to be Lee Rimell, a serving West Midlands police officer, who posted abusive messages about Brookes. A lack of police action led her to launch a high court battle (her lawyers acted pro bono) which forced Facebook to reveal the identities of the trolls. Not surprisingly, she was terrified and began to sleep with a knife under her pillow, rarely leaving her flat. Brookes lived alone and was newly disabled she had recently been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and had her colon removed.

My Forever Family by Nicky Brookes