Met officer accused of sharing rape case footage is cleared of misconduct

A Metropolitan police officer has been cleared of two counts of misconduct in public office after standing trial accused of sharing footage from two rape cases. PC Adam Aspinall Da Encarnacao, 33, from Buckinghamshire, attached to the Met’s Sapphire unit dealing with rapes and serious sexual assaults, had pleaded not guilty to both counts. He has acted as a sexual offences investigation trained officer supporting rape victims. He has been on suspension from the force. A jury at Southwark crown court took just under two hours to clear him of the charges. It was alleged he shared CCTV images of Natalie Shotter, who was orally raped and killed on a park bench in Southall, west London, in July 2021, and footage relating to an unidentified woman who was raped in an alleyway in December 2021. The court heard that police did not find the footage when they seized Aspinall Da Encarnacao’s personal devices after his ex-girlfriend Maria Niebla claimed he had shared it with her. Images of three dead people acquired in the course of his work were found on his personal hard drive, the court heard. No action was taken in relation to this discovery and it did not form part of the two misconduct charges. Jurors heard Niebla met the officer in February 2021 on a dating app and she moved into the family home where he lived with his parents in July 2021. When the relationship ended a year later she alleged he had subjected her to controlling and abusive behaviour, which he denies. He was not charged in relation to these allegations. Shotter’s mother, Dr Cas Shotter Weetman, an NHS lead advanced cardiology practitioner, said after the verdict: “We are bitterly disappointed with the outcome. It was absolutely horrendous to have to relive what happened to Natalie over and over again throughout the court process. Yet again we find ourselves dealing with profound sadness.”