A man has been jailed for life for a minimum of 30 years after pleading guilty to 24 counts of rape and 25 other offences which were carried out, over the space of 18 years, while he was a serving Metropolitan Police officer.
David Carrick, 48, was sentenced to serve a minimum of 30 years for 47 offences against 12 women, between March 2004 and September 2020.
Mrs. Justice Cheema-Grubb, sentencing Carrick at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday, told him: “Behind a public appearance of propriety and trustworthiness, you took monstrous advantage of women drawn into intimate relationships with you. You brazenly raped and sexually assaulted many women, some you barely knew.”
She said his conviction represented “a spectacular downfall for a man charged with upholding the law and empowered to do so to the extent of being authorised to bear a firearm in the execution of his duty.”
She said a suicide attempt he made while on remand was borne out of “self-pity,” rather than remorse.
Cheema-Grubb said the women thought they would not be believed because Carrick was a police officer and she added: “This widespread attitude illustrates an astonishing degree of moral corruption in the way that complainants in sexual offences are seen and treated in society. It betrays them and the police officers who work hard to be professional and fair and who deserve the trust that public places in them.”
The full list of charges included 24 counts of rape, nine counts of sexual assault, five counts of assault by penetration, three counts of coercive and controlling behaviour, three counts of false imprisonment, two counts of attempted rape, one count of attempted sexual assault by penetration, one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and one count of indecent assault.
Carrick Will Be in Prison Almost to ‘Close of His Natural Life’
On Monday, Carrick’s lawyer, Alisdair Williamson, KC, said his client, “accepts fully responsibility for what he has done” and accepted the sentence would “bring him close to, if not to, the close of his natural life.”Prosecutor Tom Little, KC, said Carrick did not qualify for a whole-life sentence because he had not killed any of his victims and had pleaded guilty.
The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley, said last month: “This man abused women in the most disgusting manner. It is sickening. We’ve let women and girls down and indeed we’ve let Londoners down.”
It emerged Carrick came to the attention of the police nine times—with him being accused of rape, domestic violence, and harassment—between 2000 and 2021, before any action was taken by the Met.
A previous hearing heard Carrick had bragged to women about how he was an armed officer who protected VIPs including then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
On Monday, Little outlined the details of the “catalogue of violent and brutal sexual offences” Carrick committed.
Sent Victim Image of Himself With a Gun and a Warning
Little said Carrick sent one victim a photograph of himself with a gun he used in his work, and said, “Remember I am the boss.”Ironically most of the victims only came forward after Carrick was charged with raping a 13th woman in September 2020, an offence which the Crown Prosecution Service in the end decided “it was not in the public interest” to take to trial.
Little said Carrick, who completed a Metropolitan Police training course on domestic abuse in 2005, used his police baton and handcuffs over the years to intimidate his victims, who he met on online dating apps such as Tinder and Badoo, or by chatting them up in pubs or on social occasions.
The court also heard a number of victim impact statements from the women he abused.
One said Carrick had repeatedly raped her, sometimes at gunpoint, and said she felt she had “encountered evil.”
Little said Carrick’s computer history showed he had searched for “extreme” and “painful” pornographic images.
The court heard how close Carrick was to getting away with his crimes and remaining as a police officer.
In July 2021 a woman reported Carrick to Hertfordshire Police for rape but no action was taken after she withdrew the complaint.
The Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards then placed him on restricted duties, but a misconduct hearing was dropped in September 2021. He was about to return to full duties when, on Oct. 1, 2021 a woman alleged he had raped her a year earlier.
At that point he was arrested, charged, and suspended by the Met.
It was the day after Couzens had been told by a judge he would never be released from prison.
Twelve other women then came forward and described how Carrick had treated them over the years.
Assistant Commander Barbara Gray, the Met’s lead for professionalism, issued a statement earlier this week in which she said: “In the weeks since he pleaded guilty, we have spoken about our genuine and urgent commitment to address the systemic failings that have been identified by our own reviews, by those of His Majesty’s Inspectorate and Baroness Casey.
“We are determined to root out those who corrupt our integrity. That work is already under way. In the coming weeks we will be speaking in more detail about the important progress we have already made and what our next steps will be.”
Rowley, who took over from Dame Cressida Dick last year, is under huge pressure to tackle misogynistic crimes and behaviour within the Metropolitan Police.
Last month Rowley said he planned to write to Home Secretary Suella Braverman and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, at the end of March after, “reviewing all of our people, having checked their details against all the police, national intelligence data in the police national database.”
