A Metropolitan Police officer who abused and lied to a string of girlfriends while taking their money to feed his gambling habit has been sentenced. Lewis Rollins, 29, who was a Police Constable in the Met's Central West Command Unit, used women he met on dating apps to fund his out-of-control betting habit, telling a series of lies to hide his true financial situation.
Details of the Case
Southwark Crown Court previously heard that Rollins was dating two women simultaneously and taking money from both. He then struck up a relationship with a third woman, who was convinced to take out a £4,000 loan to help with his spiralling debts. Rollins was found guilty by a jury of two counts of coercive or controlling behaviour and three charges of fraud. He was also convicted at an earlier trial of assaulting a fourth woman, who stepped in to defend her flatmate, another woman the police officer had been dating.
Victim Impact
Dr Georgia Miller, who met Rollins on the dating app Bumble in April 2022, described his 'bursts of anger', name-calling, acts of violence, and controlling jealousy, including monitoring her phone. She accused Rollins of 'losing it' and attacking her in a Birmingham hotel room in July 2022 when he thought she had been texting an ex-boyfriend. Dr Miller described being thrown out of bed by Rollins and then 'slammed' against a wall. Financial transactions showed Dr Miller sent Rollins £1,000 for a bet on one occasion and more than £1,000 on another to pay his rent.
When Rollins started dating Dr Miller, he was already seeing another woman, Alisha Steeds, after meeting her in February 2022. She gave the police officer £1,500 to cover his rent. Rollins said he 'always intended to pay her back', but the court heard that Dr Miller had given him money to pay Ms Steeds, but he had gambled it away instead.
Trainee solicitor Emily Busby, who met Rollins on a dating app in 2023, said she lent him money after feeling sorry for him. She gave Rollins £800 to pay the deposit on his accommodation after he 'gambled away' money given by his parents. In December 2023, she took out a £4,000 loan for Rollins, giving £2,500 to him while using the rest to pay off her own debts.
Previous Trials and Sentencing
Rollins stood trial for the first time in November 2024 after being accused by another girlfriend of intentional suffocation and causing actual bodily harm. He was cleared of those charges but convicted of assaulting Helen Jackson, the flatmate of Rollins' girlfriend, by grabbing her during an altercation. Rollins was on bail for offences against Ms Busby at the time of that incident and spent several months in prison awaiting the first trial.
Rollins, of Fareham in Hampshire, denied all charges. The jury failed to reach a verdict on a sixth charge of damaging property after Dr Miller accused him of breaking a necklace during an altercation. The prosecution offered no evidence on that charge on Tuesday.
Victim Statement
In a victim impact statement, Ms Busby told the court: 'Lewis has changed my life forever. For the past two and a half years I've been trying to recover financially, mentally and emotionally from what he did to me. He made me feel like I was never good enough. To this day I don't feel like I have my life back. This experience has also affected my trust in the police.' She added that she has lost all of her savings and remains in debt.
Judge's Remarks
Judge Christopher Hehir said he 'wasn't at all impressed' by the defendant's letter expressing remorse, stating that 'if he was sorry the best way to do that might have been to plead guilty'. He described how during one incident with Dr Miller, the defendant 'behaved with breath-taking immaturity and petulance' and called her names such as 'slag' and 'c***'. The judge said Rollins was 'jealous, aggressive and occasionally violent' and 'manipulative'. In relation to Ms Busby, the defendant 'took advantage of her feelings and generosity' and his behaviour 'had and continues to have a devastating effect'.
Referring to a pre-sentence report, the judge noted Rollins had been abstinent from gambling for some time. Judge Hehir said the defendant had already served the equivalent of a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence, but if he had been on bail throughout, he would have been given a sentence of two years and nine months. The judge said imposing that sentence now would result in release within weeks or days, and he 'can't see the point of you going to prison for a few days or weeks'.
The judge sentenced Rollins to an 18-month community order with 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days. He also imposed a compensation order requiring Rollins to pay Ms Busby £3,132.50 within six months. At the end of the sentencing, Judge Hehir told Rollins: 'You are to some extent a fortunate beneficiary of the chronology of circumstance.'
