David Carrick has been suspended from the Metropolitan Police
A gun-wielding Metropolitan police officer who used his position to instill fear in his people has pleaded guilty to multiple counts of rape and sexual assault against 12 women.
David Carrick, 48, who met other victims through dating websites, pleaded guilty to 49 offenses over two decades.
The Met apologized after he came forward to the police over nine incidents, including rape, between 2000 and 2021.
One official said his failure was “unprecedented in the police”.
Deputy Commissioner Barbara Gray, who heads the Met’s intelligence, said: “We should have noticed his abusive behavior and because we didn’t, we missed opportunities to remove him from the meeting.
“We are very sorry that being able to continue using his role as a police officer may have prolonged the suffering of those who were abused.
“We know they felt unable to come forward quickly because he told them they wouldn’t be believed.”
Carrick, who pleaded guilty to 24 counts of rape, was suspended when he was arrested in October 2021.
Watch: “The police have taken a step back”, says Assistant Commissioner Barbara Grey
His offenses spanned from 2003 to 2020 and most took place in Hertfordshire, where he lived.
Carrick, from Stevenage, controlled what the women wore, what they ate, when they slept and even stopped some of the women from talking to their own children.
He was stopped when a woman decided to report him. In October 2021, following the publication of the scandal of the Metropolitan Police PC Wayne Couzens, he contacted the police.
Jaswant Narwal, chief prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Carrick carried out a role of public safety, but over 17 years, in his private life, he did the opposite.
“This man always humiliated, humiliated and molested and raped women.
“As time went on, his resentment grew as he gained courage, thinking he would escape.”
Photo credit, Jonathan Brady/PA Media
Det Ch Insp Iain Moor (second right) and Jaswant Narwal, from the Crown Prosecution Service, spoke to reporters outside Southwark Crown Court.
He said that “the extent of Carrick’s contempt for his victims was unlike anything I have come across in 34 years with the Crown Prosecution Service”.
Carrick, who worked with Parliament and the Diplomatic Protection Command, met other victims through online dating sites such as Tinder and Badoo, and used his work as a police officer to gain their trust.
He pleaded guilty to four counts of rape, false imprisonment and assault of a 40-year-old woman in 2003, at Southwark Crown Court on Monday.
Now it can be said that Carrick had already pleaded guilty to 43 offences, including 20 counts of rape, in December.
Carrick admitted raping nine women, some repeatedly over months or years, in many of the attacks that involved violence that would have left them physically injured.
Image source, Hertfordshire Police
David Carrick pleaded guilty to 24 counts of rape
Speaking outside court, Det Ch Insp Iain Moor, from Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, said: “David Carrick’s crimes are shocking.
“I suspect that many will be shocked and saddened by his actions, but I hope that the victims and the public are assured that no one is above the law and the police will continue to pursue those who harm women in this way.”
He said he hoped that other victims would come forward.
Image credit: Julia Quenzler/BBC
David Carrick, as portrayed by the court singer, was an armed police officer until he was suspended from the Metropolitan Police.
Carrick pleaded guilty to charges of imprisonment, several times forcing one of his victims into a small cupboard under the stairs of his home.
Det Ch Insp Moor, the investigating officer, said: “I saw large crates of dogs.”
After Carrick’s first guilty plea, the Met suspended his payment and began a swift action against him, with a hearing due to take place on Tuesday.
David Carrick: ‘The scale of his failure is terrifying’
Harriet Wistrich, campaign group leader for the Center for Women’s Justice, said: “We have known for some time that there has been a trend of not punishing people for such misconduct by the police.
“Recent reports reveal a serious lack of scrutiny and misconduct and an undeniable culture of misogyny in some parts of the Met.
“That Carrick could have not only been a police officer but remained a police officer for so long when he committed these horrific crimes against women, it’s appalling.”
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said he was “sickened and appalled” by Carrick’s allegations.
He said “serious questions must be answered about how he was able to abuse his position as an official in this appalling way”.
After the murder of Sarah Everard by a Met police officer, the force publicly announced its commitment to protecting women and launched an “action plan” to try to regain trust.
But it has now admitted its technical department did not try to check the full record of any officer accused of rape.
A spokesman for the prime minister said it was a “horrific story” and that Rishi Sunak’s “thoughts are with all those affected by Carrick”.
“There is no place in our police force that falls so far short of the acceptable and inappropriate standards of wearing a uniform.”
David Carrick will be sentenced in February
Sal Naseem, from the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC), said no opportunities to stop Carrick had been identified by the police so far.
The two retired Met officers who dealt with the 2002 assault and harassment of Carrick may have committed misconduct, but as they cannot face charges of misconduct, the IOPC decided it was not in the public interest to take further action.
Carrick’s full list of offenses are:
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