LGBT+: Metropolitan Police chief apologises to Peter Tatchell over past failings

Peter Tatchell has received an apology from the Met Police

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, has apologised to LGBT+ campaigner Peter Tatchell for the force's homophobic failings.

In what Mr Tatchell said was a "ground-breaking step forward", Sir Mark's letter said he was "sorry to all of the communities we have let down".

A damning report by Baroness Casey in March found there was racism, misogyny and homophobia in the Met Police.

Mr Tatchell said the apology "draws a line under past Met persecution".

It came on the day the Peter Tatchell Foundation launched a campaign calling on all UK police chiefs to apologise for "decades-long victimisation" of the LGBT+ community.

In his letter, Sir Mark admitted he accepted it "had systems and processes in place which have led to bias and discrimination in the way we have policed London's communities, and in the way we have treated our officers and staff, over many decades.

"Recent cases of appalling behaviour by some officers have revealed that there are still racists, misogynists, homophobes and transphobes in the organisation, and we have already doubled down on rooting out those who corrupt and abuse their position."

He added: "I am clear that there is much for us to do. I am sorry to all of the communities we have let down for the failings of the past and look forward to building a new Met for London, one all Londoners can be proud of and in which they can have confidence."

In response, Mr Tatchell thanked Sir Mark for "being the first UK police chief to say sorry" adding he hoped his apology would spur other police forces to follow suit.

"This will help strengthen LGBT+ trust and confidence in the police; encouraging more LGBTs to report hate crime, domestic violence and sexual assault," he added.

His foundation's #ApologiseNow campaign was supported by the late television star Paul O'Grady before his death in March.

The launch event on Wednesday featured a video from O'Grady, where he urged the police to say sorry for the often abusive, and sometimes illegal, way they treated LGBT people.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Tatchell said the "ground-breaking" apology recognised the "abusive, insulting, violent and sometimes illegal" treatment LGBT+ communities have experienced at the hands of police.

He said "gay bars were often scenes of harassment" by police, adding that the apology would help to build trust between the community and police forces, increasing safety as a result.

Australian-born Mr Tatchell has been campaigning for human rights since he was a teenager, including supporting Australia's Aboriginal people.

He continued to campaign for human rights after moving to London in the 1970s, protesting against the likes of boxer Mike Tyson, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey over the years.

In 1999, he tried to perform a citizen's arrest on former prime minister of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe over his human rights abuses - but was severely beaten by Mr Mugabe's bodyguards.

Since 2011, he has been the director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation.