Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick admitted multiple counts of rape and sexual assaults on a dozen women over almost two decades. Photo / Hertfordshire Police via AP
Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick admitted multiple counts of rape and sexual assaults on a dozen women over almost two decades. Photo / Hertfordshire Police via AP
A London police officer has admitted raping and sexually assaulting a dozen women over a 17-year period, in what prosecutors described as one of the most shocking cases involving a serving police officer.
David Carrick, 48, pleaded guilty to 49 offences, including 24 counts of rape and charges that includedassault, attempted rape and false imprisonment. The officer, who joined London’s Metropolitan Police force in 2001, had served with the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command.
The police department apologised to victims after it emerged that nine allegations of rape and other crimes were made against Carrick between 2000 and 2021. He was only suspended from the force after his arrest for a rape complaint in 2021.
Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray said the case was “devastating” and apologised for not removing Carrick from the force earlier.
Police and prosecutors speaking to the media outside Southwark Crown Court, in London, after serving Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick admitted 49 offences, including 24 counts of rape. Photo / Jonathan Brady, PA via AP
“He has had a devastating impact on the trust and confidence of women and girls that we are working so hard to earn. He has devastated colleagues,” Gray said in a statement.
“He used the fact he was a police officer to control and coerce his victims,” she added. “We should have spotted his pattern of abusive behaviour and because we didn’t, we missed opportunities to remove him from the organisation.”
The crimes that #MetPolice officer David Carrick has admitted to committing are utterly abhorrent When a man who has been charged with 49 offences, including 24 charges of rape, is a serving police officer, how can women and girls possibly be – or feel – safe.
Police said Carrick met some of the women through online dating sites or on social occasions, using his position as a police officer to gain their trust. The victims did not feel able to come forward sooner because Carrick told them they would not be believed, Gray said.
I am absolutely sickened by the truly abhorrent offences that David Carrick has committed. Serious questions must be answered about how he was able to abuse his position as an officer. My full statement: pic.twitter.com/ogJt0o6J0M
“Londoners will be rightly shocked that this man was able to work for the Met for so long, and serious questions must be answered about how he was able to abuse his position as an officer in this horrendous manner,” Khan said.
Khan has put heavy pressure on the Metropolitan Police, the UK’s largest police force, to reform its culture and standards after a string of controversies and allegations of misogyny and racism within police ranks.
Detective Chief Inspector Iain Moor with Chief Crown Prosecutor Jaswant Narwal outside Southwark Crown Court after David Carrick pleaded guilty to four counts of rape, false imprisonment, and indecent assault. Photo / Jonathan Brady, PA via AP
Authorities said trust in police has been undermined since a serving officer, Wayne Couzens, was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering a stranger, Sarah Everard, while she was walking home at night in London in 2021.
Lawmaker Yvette Cooper, from the opposition Labour Party, said Carrick’s case was “further evidence of appalling failures in the police vetting and misconduct processes, still not addressed by government”.
A judge is expected to sentence Carrick in February.
Sexual harm - Where to get help
If it’s an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
If you’ve ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:
