A sexual predator lurking within the ranks of the Metropolitan Police has been finally brought to justice thanks to the extraordinary courage of a woman who he raped when she was just 16-years-old.
Adam Provan, 43, carried out a series of horrendous sexual attacks on two victims during a 16-year career as a Constable for the Metropolitan Police.
Allegations that he was a controlling bully came to bosses’ attention early in his policing career, it is said, but were “swept under the carpet” instead of being taken seriously, Wood Green crown court heard.
Provan’s true character was finally brought to light in 2016 when a woman came forward to reveal she had been raped as a teenager by the PC when they met for a blind date.
She was a 16-year-old GCSE student while Provan – more than a decade older – had lied about his age, disguised his identity, and raped her twice during the “hellish” date.
The teenager stayed quiet about the attacks at the time, fearing her word would never be taken over that of a respected police officer. But she eventually came forward, bravely giving harrowing evidence three times in a determined bid to bring Provan to justice.
Her testimony gave the second woman, herself a Met Police officer, the courage to come forward and reveal that Provan had raped her repeatedly as well.
A jury has now convicted Provan of eight counts of rape, leaving him facing years in prison for his crimes.
Prosecutor Anthony Metzer KC dubbed Provan a “Jekyll and Hyde” character who relied on his police position to avoid detection, as the women he raped stayed silent out of “fear of not being believed or not being supported by the authorities and a fear of repercussions if (they) spoke out.”
It is the latest scandal for the beleaguered Metropolitan Police, after murderer Wayne Couzens, serial rapist David Carrick, and the Casey Review damning the force as institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic.
Like Carrick, the case of Provan reveals an organisation that had the chance to root out a rotten officer but chose instead to ignore his true character.
The attacks on the 16-year-old girl happened when she and Provan exchanged messages and agreed to meet for a blind date in 2010.
Provan, who had pretended to be 22-years-old, claimed he was shocked at her young age when they first met. But this contrasted sharply with her evidence that he knew she was 16, still at school, and she had even sent him a picture of her celebrating the end of her GCSEs.
They were meant to go on a cinema date, but Provan took the girl instead to a woodland area and demanded sex.
“I didn’t want him to touch me”, she told the court. “He pulled out a condom and asked if we could ‘do it’. I said no.
“I said it clearly, I didn’t want to have sex with him.”
She described pulling away from Provan, repeatedly saying ‘no’, but was ultimately unable to fend him off.
“I held on to a tree and just froze”, she said. “Afterwards I was feeling empty and withdrawn. I had no choice in what I did.”
Provan raped the girl a second time after he had driven her to McDonalds for milkshakes, and researched on his phone the plot of a “chick flick” film he said they would pretend to have seen.
The girl stayed quiet about the attack for several years, fearing she would not be believed as Provan was a police officer and also wanting to protect her father who had allowed her to go on the date.
In 2016, she came forward, Provan was put on trial, and convicted by a jury. He was jailed for nine years, but to the horror of his victim the convictions were overturned on appeal.
However it was the young woman’s victim impact statement at Provan’s 2018 sentencing hearing that convinced the second woman to come forward to police, revealing the abuse she had suffered in the early 2000s.
Provan - who had been part of the Met’s East Area Command - had attacked her multiple times, including one incident when he covered her face during sex until she could not breathe.
In another incident, the PC told the woman he “hoped she would get raped” - before going on to carry out such an attack.
She told jurors how she had reported Provan to management over his behaviour towards her, but was dismayed when it was not investigated.
“She didn’t feel like it was handled very seriously by management at the time”, a female police officer told the court, of the complaint. “As a victim, I don’t think she felt at all supported.”
After the guilty verdicts, Judge Noel Lucas KC hit out at Met Police bosses, saying they should be “ashamed” of the initial response to concerns about Provan, which were raised before he raped the 16-year-old girl.
“Appallingly, as the Casey Report confirms…misogyny in the Met was rife and institutionalised”, said Mr Metzer in his closing speech to the jury.
The court also heard how Provan was known as “odd” by police colleagues, and he once told female colleagues he would “follow them” when they refused to invite him to lunch.
Following the guilty verdicts, investigations are now underway into an estimated 700 female names and contact details found in Provan’s phone.
When he was arrested, police also discovered legal pornography on his phone revealing an interest in sex with young women. Investigations are also underway into the way Provan was freed from prison following the Court of Appeal decision.
A second man had been convicted of also sexually abusing the 16-year-old girl, but the truthfulness of her evidence was called into question by a photo, said to put her in a different part of the country to where she said the abuse took place.
Provan and the second man’s convictions were both overturned on this basis, but in the middle of Provan’s second trial it dramatically emerged that the data showing when the picture had been taken had been altered.
A key plank of Provan’s defence case collapsed, and the second man may now face a return to the Court of Appeal to determine whether the altered photo date was accidental or deliberate.
Judge Lucas insisted at the time that Provan’s trial must now be derailed by the revelation, as that would mean his victim having to contemplate giving evidence for a fourth time about the abuse she suffered. Provan, who has been living in a village in Suffolk, was sacked by the Met in 2019 after his initial conviction.
He is due to be sentenced on August 21 and 22, when the judge will consider the possibility of an extended sentence or life sentence, and whether Provan poses an ongoing risk to women.
Investigating officer Detective Sergeant Victoria James, Specialist Crime, said: “These are truly dreadful offences. Provan abused his position to win the trust of both these women. I hardly need to say Provan’s behaviour fell grossly short of what we expect from our police officers.
“The 2010 assault was brazen and calculated, with clear indication he had planned it beforehand. The second victim suffered a campaign of controlling and abusive behaviour and sexual violence. I commend the incredible courage of both women in helping us bring Provan to justice .”
