A blundering police force has admitted it tipped off an alleged rapist before he was questioned - allowing him the chance to delete crucial evidence off his phone, the Daily Mail can reveal.
The alleged victim fumed she has 'absolutely no trust' in the police after her rape allegation was mistakenly leaked to the suspect - her ex-partner - in February last year before he was interviewed over it.
Essex Police has apologised to the mother, admitting the shocking blunder was 'caused by human error' when using Athena - the policing system it uses to log all of its crimes.
We can reveal how the woman, who wished to stay anonymous, made a formal rape allegation to the force after she was allegedly attacked by the firefighter on July 1 2023.
She officially reported the crime in January 2024, but requested that police waited until she had been through counselling before pursuing charges against him as she was too traumatised.
