Former Met police officer, David Carrick, is sentenced to 30 years in prison, which equates to 36 life sentences, on the account of raping, sexually assaulting and falsely imprisoning numerous women.
The 48-year-old former Hertfordshire police officer and serial rapist, David Carrick, was given a minimum term of 30 years in prison during a Crown Prosecution Service in Southwark Crown Court on the 7th of February.
Carrick has sexually assaulted dozens of women over 17 years and used his authoritative position as a police officer to prevent his victims from reporting his crimes.
- What did Carrick do to his victims?
- What happened during the court hearing?
- Carrick’s arrest has provoked a call for reform within the police force
Carrick pleaded guilty to 49 charges. These included 24 counts of rape and counts of false imprisonment, sexual assault, and controlling and coercive behavior. Carrick raped and sexually assaulted 12 women between 2003 and 2020, making him a prolific and serial sex offender. These rapes include vaginal, anal, and oral rapes “during controlling and coercive relationships”.
Carrick joined the Met in 2001 and was a serving officer in an elite and armed unit of the Met. In the court hearing, the judge said that Carrick began his violent offenses “immediately after” he became a police constable.
Initially, Carrick used the “power and control” that comes with being a metropolitan police officer to silence his victims. That is until his most recent victim, a woman whom he met on a dating website before raping her, urinating on her, and using sex toys against her will, reported the sexual offense in October 2021. She did so following the arrest of another serving Met officer, Wayne Couzens, for raping and murdering Sarah Everard.
This complaint resulted in Carrick being arrested, leading his other victims to come forward and the investigation into David Carrick began. The case was so enthralling that Carrick pleaded guilty.
What did Carrick do to his victims?
During the Prosecution Service, Carrick’s victims, both in person and via video link, spoke out about their experiences with Carrick while the serial rapist from his position was in the defendant’s box.
All of the women were granted anonymity.
Woman 1 revealed that Carrick had held a handgun to her head while raping her. She said she thought she had “encountered evil” that night and that he was going to kill her.
Woman 2 said that Carrick hit her with a whip and would shut her in a small cupboard as punishment while “whistling at her as if she was a dog.”
Woman 3, who was raped by Carrick numerous times, said that Carrick frequently urinated in her mouth, threatened her with violence, and humiliated her.
Woman 4 said that she was “too frightened” to go report what Carrick did to her because he told her that “he was the police, he was the law and he owned me”.
She continued: “I was convinced the police would not believe me and would not investigate my complaint. I was terrified of making myself a target, so I remained silent.”
However, not letting the assault define her, she said that it’ll “instead shape me to be a better, stronger version of me.”
According to Prosecutor Tom Little KC, Carrick threatened one of the women with his “police baton and sent her a picture of his work-issue firearm, saying ‘Remember, I am the boss.’”
Carrick also caused serious injuries to several of his victims.
Each of the 20 women talked about how Carrick’s crimes impacted them, how Carrick had scared them into keeping quiet about their experiences, and suggested that they now find it hard to trust men, particularly the police. One talked about how she turned to self-harm coping mechanisms and had thoughts of suicide.
What happened during the court hearing?
Carrick was sentenced to serve a minimum of 30 years in jail. He was told he “took monstrous advantage of women” as he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The court heard that Carrick had attempted suicide while on remand at Belmarsh prison, but it is said that he was found not to be suffering from mental disorders.
The judge, Mrs. Justice Cheema-Grubb, said to him: “You were driven to try to commit suicide as a self-pitying reaction to the shame brought on you by these proceedings rather than remorse.”
Cheema-Grubb also said: “These convictions represent a spectacular downfall for a man charged with upholding the law and empowered to do so even to the extent of being authorized to bear a firearm in the execution of his duty.
Speaking to Carrick himself, the judge said: “You were bold and, at times, relentless, trusting that no victim would overcome her shame and fear to report you.”
“For nearly two decades, you were proved right, but now a combination of those 12 women, by coming forward, and your police colleagues, by acting on their evidence, have exposed you and brought you low.”
The Senior Crown Prosecutor in the case, Shilpah Shah, said: “With a vast number of charges for rape and serious sexual assault, as well as victims spanning a 17-year-period, this is one of the most significant cases the Crown Prosecution Service has dealt with.”
“It was harrowing seeing how victims were relentlessly manipulated; they were financially cut off and isolated from their friends and family and repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted. Carrick took so much from them both physically and mentally.”
“It didn’t matter to Carrick who the victim was, [whether it was] a new girlfriend, a partner, a friend, or a stranger, he would still abuse them.”
Carrick showed no remorse as he was given his sentence.
Carrick’s arrest has provoked a call for reform within the police force
Speaking of Carrick’s offenses, Met commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, said Carrick “exploited his position as a police officer in the most disgusting way […] We weren’t rigorous enough in our approach and as a result, we missed opportunities to identify the warning signs over decades” and described him as “evil.”
“I and tens of thousands of officers and staff in the Met are horrified by this man’s crimes and recognize this will shake Londoners’ trust too. We have let down women across London, but we are more determined than ever to put it right,” he continued.
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, will back Rowley’s reform, saying: “I want to reassure the public and all the brave officers and staff who want to speak out that under the new commissioner, any allegation of misconduct will be taken seriously and handled sensitively.”
“By coming forward they have helped to protect the public and rid the Met Police of a dangerous and prolific offender who abused his position as a police officer in the worst possible way,” he continued.
The home secretary, Suella Braverman, said that “the crimes of David Carrick are a scar on our police” and that “there is no place in our police for such heinous and predatory behavior.”
The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said, “A major overhaul of police standards is desperately needed, but there has been a serious failure by Conservative ministers to take action. We owe it to the victims in this hideous case to take the strongest action on police standards.”
An official spokesperson for Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said: “This is a shocking and appalling case which demonstrates a vile abuse of power and the public is rightly sickened by it.
Detective Inspective, Iain Moor, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire major crime unit, said: “If anyone else thinks they have been a victim, we still want to hear from you, and we will support you.”
He continues, “As a serving police officer he has brought shame on the profession and was not fit to wear the uniform, but I hope that our determination to get justice for the victims in this case, will go some way to reassuring the public that nobody is above the law and we will bring people like David Carrick to justice.”
Moor also explained that a reporting portal had been set up for Carrick’s victims to share information about Carrick.
Peter Burt, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “We know there are victims of other rape and serious sexual offenses out there and that many of you may be worried about being believed or whether you’ll ever see justice done. We hope seeing Carrick, a prolific abuser, manipulator, and rapist, behind bars will encourage other women to come forward, knowing we will do all we can to hold the person responsible to account for their crime.”
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