Female detective sacked for gross misconduct and placed on same barred list as a rapist for calling out force's 'woke' ideology

Max Thompson, Campaigns Officer

14 August 2026

A woman police officer has been sacked and placed on the same barred list as a killer and a rapist after she criticised Northumbria Police guidelines that permitted biological men who identify as women to insist on being strip-searched by a female officer.

Detective Constable Rachel Fletcher was reported by male colleagues for saying "c**ks in frocks." Ms Fletcher, a single mother-of-two, played an integral role in catching and jailing prolific paedophile Ross Jackson back in February this year.

The now-former detective constable was shocked to learn that she had been fired last month. The force has said — which is so often the go-to excuse — that Ms Fletcher had brought it into disrepute with comments that it categorised as "sexist, inappropriate and offensive," along with a single "transphobic" remark.

Officers who are dismissed on the grounds of gross misconduct are placed on a barred list. Ms Fletcher is no exception and is now on the same list as ex-Metropolitan Police officers Wayne Couzens, who murdered Sarah Everard, and habitual rapist David Carrick.

Male colleagues told a disciplinary panel that they had been "offended" when they overheard Fletcher joking with a fellow female officer that all men should be on a nine pm curfew to prevent night-time sex attacks. It is also alleged that Ms Fletcher said, at Gateshead police station, that "all men are rapists."

Ms Fletcher has said: "Offending colleagues does not make me a danger to the public, yet my name is now on a list with rapists and murderers."

Baroness Davies, friend of the Free Speech Union, former Olympic swimmer, and co-founder of the Women's Sports Union, has said that police forces that have gone woke are "destroying their public credibility."

After working her way up from a civilian post to become a detective during a twenty-year career, Ms Fletcher has now been barred from policing. Ms Fletcher is bringing a claim against Northumbria Police for unfair dismissal. The Free Speech Union wishes her the very best.

Read more in the Daily Mail.