A former Metropolitan Police officer has been jailed for sexually assaulting a colleague after climbing into her bed while she was asleep.
Sijanta Thapa, 32, was convicted of the attack, which took place in October 2020 after a drinks gathering at a mutual friend's home.
Assault at colleague's home
Woolwich Crown Court heard the woman had allowed Thapa to stay at her house to avoid a long journey home in the early hours, expecting him to sleep in the living room before leaving the following morning.
Instead, the former officer entered her bedroom during the night and got into bed beside her.
The woman told the court she initially woke to find Thapa spooning her from behind with his arm around her. Believing he was simply being affectionate, she went back to sleep.
She later woke again to discover Thapa was touching her breast after undoing part of her dress and exposing her chest.
Victim impact and sentencing
In a victim impact statement, the woman said the assault had shattered her sense of security and led to years of counselling and trauma therapy.
“I had to go to counselling and trauma therapies on and off to deal with the traumatic nightmares and complete lack of any sense of safety and security, particularly at home,” she said.
Sentencing Thapa to 21 months in prison last week, Judge Alice Robinson said: “You show absolutely no remorse and continue to deny the offence. This was not a minor sexual assault.”
Separate nightclub allegation
The court also heard that Thapa resigned from the Metropolitan Police in 2024 following a separate allegation that he groped a woman at London's Heaven nightclub. He was later acquitted of that offence, although a misconduct panel concluded his account of the incident was false.
The victim - who was a tourist - had danced with Thapa and briefly kissed him, before he pulled her onto his lap and groped her breasts.
CCTV footage captured the moment she was groped and the moment she ran away to find her friends.
At the time, she said she was “fine” with a dance and a “quick kiss”, but the man then “started walking me over to a bench and made me sit down on his lap.
“When I was sat on his lap I was facing away from him he has then started grabbing both of my boobs.
“I immediately felt scared and pushed his hands off me and I said no. I got up straight away and walked back over to my friends at the bar.”
Thapa left the force before misconduct proceedings were concluded.
