A Metropolitan Police officer who policed Wandsworth has been jailed for 25 years for raping four women who trusted him because of his job.
This article describes sexual violence and refers to suicide. Some readers may find the detail distressing.
Dion Arnold, 33, met the women on dating apps and through his work as an Army reserves medic. He attacked them over nearly two years, from June 2023, before any of them went to police.
He is one of four officers from a single Met unit to face serious sexual offence charges in three years. The unit polices Wandsworth, Richmond, Merton and Kingston. Three have now been convicted; one case continues.
A jury at Guildford Crown Court found Arnold guilty in April of eight of the 17 offences he faced: four rapes, two assaults by penetration and two sexual assaults. Messages on his phone showed him admitting he had “gone too far.” The women told the court he ignored them when they said no.
The court heard how Arnold raped one woman as she slept and choked another with a scarf until she lost consciousness. He told a third he wanted to role-play breaking into her home. He kept a list of more than 30 women on his phone, with their medical conditions noted beside their names. One recalled him saying: “What are you going to do, call the police? I am the police.” One of the women became pregnant after he raped her, had an abortion, and twice attempted to take her own life.
Arnold must serve at least two-thirds of the 25 years before he can apply for parole, then a further eight years on licence. He was banned from contacting his victims for 25 years, placed on the sex offenders register for life, and given an indefinite order restricting his behaviour. The Met had already sacked him, for gross misconduct, at a hearing on 7 May.
One unit, three convictions
After the conviction, the Met said it was “sickened” that Arnold had offended while serving. Chief Superintendent Dan Knowles said Arnold had told the women his job “so that they would have more trust in him.” The Met says it has been working to raise standards. Its Operation Onyx review has examined 1,636 cases; 378 people have since left the force. About 1,500 officers and staff have left the Met since 2022, and reports of internal wrongdoing, it says, have almost trebled.
Those reforms cover the same three years as the cases from this one unit. PC Cliff Mitchell was jailed for life in 2024 for multiple rapes. PC Rupert Edwards, convicted in May, is sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on 10 July. A fourth, PC Nick Whitcombe, has been charged and his case continues.
Sentencing him, Judge Deborah Charles said Arnold had “a deep-seated need to control women” and “deep levels of misogyny,” and showed little real remorse.
Claire Gallagher, the senior Crown prosecutor, said Arnold had targeted women he believed would never have the courage to report him. “They have proved him wrong.”
If you have been affected by sexual violence, Rape Crisis England and Wales offers free, confidential support 24 hours a day on 0808 500 2222 and at rapecrisis.org.uk. If you are struggling to cope, Samaritans are available day or night on 116 123 or at samaritans.org.
