Legal orders won’t block our inquiries, police insist

POLICE last night urged people who believed they were victims of sexual assault to come forward, as officers insisted that non-disclosure agreements (NDAS) would not protect alleged perpetrators of crimes from prosecution.

Officers spoke after The Daily Telegraph’s disclosure that a British businessman had gagged staff with NDAS.

Police chiefs said officers would investigate complaints of sexual harassment irrespective of whether the women had been silenced by gagging clauses in their settlements.

“If sexual harassment has occurred, it should be reported to police,” said Deputy Chief Constable Paul Mills, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for stalking and harassment.

“If someone calls 999, we are not going to ask if victims of sexual harassment have an NDA,” said a police source. “If you are a victim, you should report it and it will be investigated thoroughly, properly and seriously.”

Lawyers said criminal proceedings would override any civil gagging clause. Peter Daly, an employment and discrimination lawyer at Bindmans, said: “Criminal proceedings are separate to those civil proceedings, and they may carry on or commence regardless of the civil proceedings … the individual may then give evidence to the police if they want to, and a prosecution may go ahead. The NDA would have no bearing on this.”