Now police who probed suicide woman’s ‘rape’ allegation face misconduct hearing
TWO detectives are to face a misconduct probe over their handling of an investigation into an allegedly false rape claim.
Eleanor de Freitas, a talented but vulnerable student, told police she had been assaulted after a night out with Alexander Economou, the son of a Britishbased Greek shipping tycoon.
But after officers said there was not enough evidence to prosecute him, he launched a determined effort to see her taken to court for perverting the course of justice. Just days before she was due to stand trial in April 2014, 23-year-old Ms de Freitas, who suffered from bipolar disorder, hanged herself.
Mr Economou later sued Ms de Freitas’ father for libel after the pair engaged in a war of words, although he lost the case.
Now it can be revealed that the two Scotland Yard detectives who handled both Ms de Freitas’ rape allegation and the case against her are facing a public misconduct hearing after Mr Economou, 38, lodged a complaint. An internal Metropolitan Police report, seen by The Mail on Sunday, states that Detective Inspector Julian King and Detective Constable Phil Dial failed to follow the most basic leads and left Mr Economou to gather evidence himself to show that the rape claim was false.
The report says officers failed to collect CCTV images showing the pair kissing in a lingerie store after the alleged assault. They neglected to check thousands of texts, too.
The report states that when Mr Economou alleged that Ms de Freitas had perverted the course of justice, officers told him ‘to go away and obtain the evidence before police would be willing to record the allegation, whereas the correct position should have been to record the allegation in order that it could be investigated’.
It says their behaviour ‘amounts to misconduct’. The Metropolitan Police did not comment on the case against the officers.