A woman who was raped by a Metropolitan Police officer has said she will “never forget” how scared she was during the attack.
Lauren Taylor, who was sexually assaulted by ex-PC Adam Provan after they went on a blind date together, has waived her right to anonymity saying she “couldn’t rest until she’d come forward and spoken”.
Provan was jailed for 16 years for a series of rapes spanning almost a decade. His predatory behaviour dated back to the 1990s and went unchecked until one of his victims came forward, Wood Green Crown Court heard.
It was also told that between 2003 and 2005, Provan also repeatedly raped a female police officer and terrorised her so she feared for her life.
The court heard Provan was obsessed with young women, had viewed teenage pornography and collected more than 700 female contacts on his mobile phone.
Another female officer complained in 2005 that Provan sent her “nuisance” messages but nothing was done and the issue was dealt with “informally”, the court was told.
He also allegedly contacted a 16-year-old girl after she gave her details as a witness in 2003.
In 2016, Ms Taylor, now 29, came forward to say Provan raped her on a blind date in 2010 when she was 16. She had agreed to go to the cinema with him after he lied about his age, saying he was 22, and said he was a police officer.
Instead, Provan, then 31, took her to some woods where he had sex with her even though she repeatedly told him no.
Afterwards, he acted as if nothing had happened and took Ms Taylor to a McDonald’s for a milkshake before forcing her to engage in a sex act in a children’s playground.
Ms Taylor said: “I’m angry at what he’s done to me. I’m angry about who he was. He was a police officer, and we go to them to be protected, and I wasn’t protected.
“And I’m angry for the lack of remorse that he’s shown throughout this whole process.”
All the offences were committed while Provan, from Newmarket in Suffolk, was a serving officer in the Met’s East Area Command Unit.
His first trial for double rape ended in a hung jury but he was convicted in 2018 and jailed for nine years. The next year, he was dismissed from the Metropolitan Police.
He served three years and three months in prison – only to be released on bail after the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial.
At the fresh trial, Ms Taylor gave evidence for a third time and six more charges of rape, relating to Provan’s earlier attacks on the female officer, were added.
In June, Provan, now 44, was found guilty of a total of eight rapes against the two women.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Taylor said: “No amount of justice will make me forget the date from hell.
“Even though I tried my best to block it out I will never forget how scared I was when the assault took place and 13 years later reliving my worst nightmare.”
The second victim, who has not waived her lifelong right to anonymity, told the court Provan regarded himself as “untouchable” and bragged about being a “trained killer”.
She told the court she feared he would kill her and accused the Met of failing to protect her and deal with him after she complained about stalking and harassment behaviour in 2005.
The court was told Provan was given words of warning but the victim did not wish to make a statement at the time and came forward to report the rapes in 2019.
Judge Lucas KC told her the treatment she received from the Met was “abysmal”, adding: “I hope it never happens again. More than abysmal, it’s shocking.”
Provan was sentenced to 16 years in prison with a further eight years on extended licence.
Judge Lucas told the defendant: “What struck me about Ms Taylor’s description of your behaviour towards her was the same cold-blooded and chilling entitlement to sex and sex in your preferred manner followed immediately by conduct as if everything was perfectly normal. “
Referring to the female officer’s earlier complaint, he added: “I find it highly troubling that (her) colleagues in the Metropolitan Police in 2004/05 were more concerned about looking out for ‘one of their own’ than in taking her seriously and investigating her complaints about you.
“Had they done so, it may be that Ms Taylor would have been spared the ordeal she has had to go through.”
In her interview, Ms Taylor said: “I don’t feel like I’ve done anything amazing. I just feel like I’ve done what I needed to do for me.
“For me, I couldn’t rest until I’d come forward and spoken about it.”
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