Met officer who told woman she’d ‘met the devil’ after raping her faces years in jail
A Met Police officer told a woman she had ‘met the devil’ after raping her at knifepoint.
Cliff Mitchell, 24, of Putney, south London, committed numerous rapes over several years – including against a child – before finally being caught when one of his victims ran through the streets screaming ‘he held a knife up to me’.
The then-serving officer visited the woman’s home and raped her at knifepoint on September 5, 2023.
He blindfolded her with his hooded top, tied her hands behind her back with cable ties and forced her and another woman into his car.
Mitchell held a blade to her throat and threatened to stab her, telling his victim ‘you’ve met the devil’, the court heard.
Prosecutor David Burns told the court: ‘He said he would kill her if she screamed out and at one point put tape around her mouth.
‘He said if she tried to run, he would stab her.’
The woman only escaped the attacker’s car when she claimed to feel sick and ran down Longfield Avenue in Hackbridge.
Members of the public saw her running through traffic. A passerby stopped their car to offer help, managing to get the woman into the vehicle and call the police.
In a recording played for the court, the distressed woman could be heard telling a 999 operator ‘he’s kidnapped me’ and ‘he’s behind us’ in an emergency call made in the passerby’s car.
Mitchell was stopped and arrested in his car roughly seven miles away in Putney after an alert was put out for his vehicle.
Officers from the Met Police’s Domestic Abuse and Sexual Offending recovered the hooded top in Mitchell’s car.
A bag containing cable ties, similar to those used to bind the victim’s wrists, was also found during a search of an address linked to Mitchell, the Met Police said.
Mitchell was charged with multiple counts of rape, kidnap and breach of a non-molestation order, and was immediately suspended.
The officer was later dismissed from the force in December 2023 after an accelerated misconduct hearing for breach of a non-molestation order, which had been in place since July 20, 2023, a statement from the Met Police said.
He had previously been subject to a rape investigation in 2017, but this had resulted in no further action.
After his 2023 arrest, Mitchell’s case was re-investigated, with the file passed to the Crown Prosecution Service.
This resulted in Mitchell being charged with an additional three counts of rape of a child under 13 and three counts of rape of a second victim between 2014 and 2017.
The child was assaulted on at least 30 other occasions.
Mitchell was convicted of 10 counts of rape, three counts of rape of a child under 13, one count of kidnap and breach of a non-molestation order at Croydon Crown Court on Wednesday, February 21.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said: ‘This is a truly shocking case and I am sickened by Mitchell’s abhorrent behaviour and the pain he has caused the victims, who have shown enormous bravery by coming forward and giving evidence in court.
‘It is down to their courage that he has been convicted and faces a significant custodial sentence.
‘I would also like to recognise the brave member of the public who came to the aid of one of the victims as she ran from Mitchell’s car.
‘Mitchell not only carried out a sustained campaign of abuse against both of his victims, but he told one of them she would never be believed due to the fact he was a police officer.
‘This brazen abuse of power makes Mitchell’s actions all the more deplorable.
‘I know this is another case which will impact the confidence people have in us.
‘We are doing more than we have done in decades to rid the Met of those who corrupt our integrity, including investing millions of pounds into our professional standards team and bringing in additional officers and staff with specialist skills and experience to investigate criminality and misconduct.
‘Part of that is dismissing officers who should not be here at the earliest opportunity.
‘Mitchell was dismissed from the Met in December 2023 – we did not wait for his conviction today.’
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