Met Police PC jailed for abuse that escalated after joining force

Former PC Isaque Rodrigues-Leite was jailed for two years and three months

A former Met Police officer has been jailed for abuse against his wife which a court heard "escalated" after he joined the force.

While a serving officer, PC Isaque Rodrigues-Leite trapped his wife in a caravan and a bedroom, hit her with a car, and threatened her with a knife.

The trial heard that during arguments he told her "no one will believe you because I am a police officer".

Rodrigues-Leite was jailed for two years and three months.

He was sentenced at Croydon Crown Court by Recorder Daniel Dyal having been found guilty of four counts of false imprisonment, two counts of common assault, one count of criminal damage, and one of coercive control in November last year.

'Paying for sex'

The pair met in 2010 and then married in 2014. The early years of the relationship were described as "toxic" and the court was told the abuse "got really bad" in the months after Rodrigues-Leite joined the Met in March 2019.

Mr Dyal said there was a "major escalation" in Rodrigues-Leite's behaviour between March and July that year.

In April 2019 he trapped the victim in a caravan after she found messages suggesting he had been unfaithful, the court heard.

Three months later, he blockaded her in their bedroom and prevented her from leaving "by pushing her back on to the bed" after she confronted him about messages on his computer revealing he was "paying for sex".

On another occasion during a fight, Rodrigues-Leite raised his first at her and punched a wall, while again refusing to let her leave, the trial heard.

When she then left the house to drive away she found her husband in the car already who accelerated the vehicle at her meaning she had to jump on the bonnet to get out of the way.

Prosecutor Saul Herman said Rodrigues-Leite then "drove the car back and forth" until she fell on the side road, before telling her: "Look what you made me do."

'Shameful'

In a witness impact statement read to the court, the victim said when she saw a police car driving near her house she still feared Rodrigues-Leite had "said something" to his colleagues.

"I felt it was shameful when I had a husband who was a police officer who was abusing me," she said.

"In my mind, I did the right thing - if talking about it will help someone else not be in the same situation, I will be glad about that."

Det Sup Christina Jessah, from Roads and Transport Policing where Rodrigues-Leite was based, said: "The nature of this officer's offending was abhorrent.

"We do not want people who commit such offences working in the Met and our professional standards investigators will continue to be relentless in their pursuit of officers who let down their colleagues and Londoners."

Following the trial Rodrigues-Leite was found not guilty of two other counts of false imprisonment and two counts of making a threat to kill.

In December last year the former PC was dismissed from the force by a misconduct panel and banned from re-joining.

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