Roald Dahl's Met officer grandson blasts own force over botched pickpocket asssault probe

"I gave five years to the Met, asking for nothing in return. I was assaulted doing what any policeman would do - stepping in to help a member of the public. Their response has been 18 months of inertia. This is what happens when there are detectives with huge caseloads and the hope that CCTV deletes itself off the server or suspects leave the country and they close the investigation."

"Mr Donovan was left with multiple injuries to his head and body as a result of being punched, kicked, choked and bitten, and had to be taken to hospital, the newspaper reported. He said what followed was not an investigation, claiming officers failed to take a victim personal statement from him for months, and delayed submitting DNA swabs. A new detective took over the case in January last year following Mr Donovan's complaints that the matter was not dealt with properly."

Ned Donovan, 32, detained a pickpocket on Westminster Bridge in August 2024 and was set upon by others, suffering multiple head and body injuries that required hospital treatment. Donovan claims officers delayed taking a victim personal statement and delayed submitting DNA swabs, and that investigative inertia persisted for 18 months. He says one of two named suspects was inadvertently deported and accuses former colleagues of malicious incompetence. Donovan wrote to Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley expressing that he has been let down by failures. Donovan spent five years with the Met, left the force in March 2024, and now serves as a police officer in the United States.

Read at www.standard.co.uk