Met Police officer accused of rape threatened to 'slit belly', court told

Met Police officer accused of rape threatened to ‘slit belly’, court told

Feb 06, 2024

A former Metropolitan Police officer, who is on trial charged with 13 counts of rape, tied up one of his alleged victims and threatened to stab her, a court has heard.

The allegations against Cliff Mitchell came to light after a “distraught and scared” woman – who had her hands bound together with cable ties – was seen running through traffic in September last year.

She was screaming “he held a knife up to me, I’m so scared”, Croydon Crown Court heard on Monday.

The alleged victim was helped by a female motorist who allowed her to hide in her car, prosecutor Catherine Farrelly told jurors.

Another passerby, who came over to both women in the car as they waited for the police to arrive, said he heard the alleged victim “crying” and noticed that her hands were tied.

Mitchell, 24, from Wandsworth, southwest London, had allegedly warned the woman that if she tried to run away he would stab her and another person in the vehicle.

“I don’t care about my life any more, you’ve met the devil,” the court was told Mitchell said.

Ms Farrelly also told the court that Mitchell responded with threats when the woman said she was feeling sick in the car.

“The defendant told her, ‘If you throw up in the car, I’m gonna slit your belly for every second you throw up’,” she said.

Mitchell is charged with six counts of rape against a girl, including three when she was under 13 years old.

Among these six charges of rape are three counts which state there were at least 30 other occasions where the girl may have been similarly assaulted.

All of these alleged offences took place between January 2014 and April 2017.

He is also charged with seven counts of rape against a woman between April 2020 and September 2023, breaching a non-molestation order and two counts of kidnapping.

He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.

For the latter part of the period of the alleged offences, Mitchell was a serving Metropolitan Police officer, Ms Farrelly told the court.

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The prosecution claim Mitchell sexually abused his first alleged victim from 2014 through to 2017 and the abuse of his second alleged victim was between 2020 to 2023.

Ms Farrelly said: “Despite their clearest protestations, he forced his sexual will upon them both, time and time again.”

The trial continues.

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