Serial rapist Met Police officer David Carrick has been jailed for life for brutally raping, controlling and humiliating a dozen vulnerable women over two decades.
Carrick, 48, was branded a ‘monster’ by one victim, while another described how she had ‘encountered evil’ after being attacked by him.
Southwark Crown Court heard the disgraced PC, nicknamed ‘Bastard Dave’, used the ‘power and control’ of his status as a policeman to silence the women or stop them leaving.
When one did stump up the courage to report her ordeal to an A&E nurse she was told there was little point making a complaint because ‘the law tend to protect their own’.
Carrick, who joined the Met in 2001 before becoming an armed officer with the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command in 2009, pleaded guilty to 49 charges, including 24 counts of rape.
His crimes were all carried out while serving with the force – he guarded sites including embassies and the Houses of Parliament, and completed training courses, including one on domestic abuse in 2005.
The judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb handed him 36 life sentences, with a minimum term of 30 years.
She told Carrick he had ‘used and abused’ his role, saying: ‘All the victims were aware of your occupation and affected by it, some of whom you specifically reassured, tricked or intimidated, abusing the trust the public vest in police officers.’
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The judge told Carrick: ‘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 authorised to bear a firearm in the extent of those duties.
‘Behind the 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. You behaved as if you were untouchable.
‘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.
‘You have lost your liberty, your job, and your status. You have before you the prospect of a difficult time in custody for many years.’
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Prosecutor Tom Little KC said Carrick had carried out a ‘catalogue of violent and brutal sexual offences’.
‘The reality was, if he had the opportunity, he would rape them, sexually abuse or assault them and/or humiliate them,’ he added of the victims.
‘He frequently relied on his charm to beguile, to mislead and then relied on his power and control, in part because of what he did for a living, to stop them leaving or report what he had done.’
The prosecutor said the women were ‘vulnerable’, with some ‘appreciably older or younger than’ him.
Carrick told one victim ‘he was the safest person that she could be with and that he was a police officer’.
The court heard he sent one of his victims a photograph of himself with a police-issue gun, saying: ‘Remember I am the boss.’
Carrick also used his police baton as a threat and handcuffs in an attack over 17 years between 2003 and 2020.
Mr Little said a search of Carrick’s electronic devices revealed searches for pornography including words such as ‘extreme’ and ‘painful’.
One of his victims described trying to ‘wriggle away’ from Carrick after he pinned her down and said: ‘You think you are a black belt, see if you can get me off you now.’
She said she was later offered £1,000 a month to be his ‘slut’.
Another woman was left feeling suicidal and ‘physically and mentally exhausted’ after dropping from dress size 14 to a six in months after meeting Carrick on dating app Tinder.
Mr Little told the court: ‘He also controlled when she slept. He told her that he wanted her to sleep during the day, so she was available for sexual intercourse with him at night.
‘By the end of the relationship, she was suicidal.’ By the time she left the defendant she was physically and mentally exhausted, but still felt that she loved him.’
Another victim, who Carrick met on a night out with other officers, described his ‘heavy drinking’ and said he would down two bottles of wine at home following a night shift before returning to work.
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’.
Mr Little said: ‘He told her that she belonged to him and that she must obey him.
‘He threatened her with his police baton and sent her a photograph of his work-issue firearm, saying, “Remember I am the boss”.’
Mr Little also read out harrowing victim impact statements.
One wrote: ‘That night I felt I had encountered evil, for the past 19 years I’ve been lost in my own life mainly due to this one event.
‘I distinctly remember his words: “Come on you can trust me, I am the safest person you can be around I am a police officer”.
‘I honestly thought he was going to kill me that night, I thought he was going to rape me and kill me and that my life would be over.’
Describing how she went to hospital and told the nurse and doctor a police officer was responsible, she went on: ‘The nurse told me that it wasn’t the first time, she had heard this and unfortunately, she doubted it would be the last.
‘She told me it would be very hard getting it to go to court as the law tends to protect their own and that it is also likely that he would know it was you and could make your life hell for doing so.’
Another victim said: ‘I was too frightened to go to the police to lodge a complaint as the defendant had drilled it into me that “he was the Police; he was the law; and he owned me”.
‘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.’
The Met was forced to apologise and admit Carrick should have been rooted out earlier after it emerged he came to police attention over nine incidents – including allegations of rape, domestic violence and harassment – between 2000 and 2021, with all but one of the incidents relating to his behaviour towards women.
Key events in the David Carrick case
– 1996-1997: Carrick serves in the British Army.
– 2000: He is a suspect in two offences reported to the Met involving allegations of malicious communications and burglary against a former partner after Carrick refused to accept the end of their relationship. He is not arrested and no further action is taken.
– August 2001: Carrick joins the Met. After training he works as a response officer based in Merton, south-west London.
– 2002: While still in his two-year probationary period, Carrick is accused of harassment and assault against a former partner. He is not arrested by the Met and no further action is taken. The matter is not referred to the Directorate of Professional Standards.
– 2002: Carrick is the subject of the first of five public complaints made between 2002 and 2008. Two allegations that he had been rude were dealt with by management action locally, while three relating to incivility and use of force were withdrawn or dismissed.
– 2003: His first known victim is repeatedly raped.
– 2004: Carrick rapes another woman.
– 2004: Carrick is involved in a domestic incident but no criminal allegations are made to the Met, he is not arrested and the matter is not referred to the Directorate of Professional Standards.
– July 2005: The officer is now based in Barnet, north London.
– 2006-2009: On multiple occasions, the officer rapes a woman, whom he abuses, threatens with violence and demeans. She fears she will not be believed if she reports him.
– 2009: Carrick is transferred to what is now the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, where his role involves providing an armed policing presence at parliamentary, government and diplomatic premises.
– 2009: Hertfordshire Police receive a domestic abuse report from a third party involving Carrick but neither party makes a complaint and no charge is brought. Hertfordshire Police inform Met supervisors.
– 2009: Carrick meets his next victim, a 51-year-old woman, whom he sexually assaults after a social evening.
– August 2009: He sexually assaults a 47-year-old woman after sharing a hotel room following a social event.
– November 2009: Carrick invites a 57-year-old woman back to his home, becomes aggressive and tries to rape her.
– November 2015: Carrick rapes a 45-year-old woman.
– 2016: Carrick is a suspect in a Hampshire Police investigation following an allegation of harassment. He is not arrested and the inquiry is later closed.
– October 2016: Carrick repeatedly rapes and sexually abuses a woman he met online, in some cases causing injuries and urinating over her.
– 2017: Carrick should have been vetted after 10 years of service but is only now re-vetted and passes.
– 2017: Carrick is spoken to by Thames Valley Police officers after he is thrown out of a Reading nightclub for being drunk. He is not arrested and the matter is not referred to the Met.
– March 2017: Carrick meets a woman on a night out, whom he goes on to rape multiple times and sexually abuse. She later describes him as totally controlling and aggressive and says he regularly urinated in her mouth, humiliated her and threatened her with violence.
– 2017: Carrick meets a woman on an online dating site who later says he raped her in the shower after dragging her in by her hair. She also describes being whipped with a belt and suffocated during sex.
– July 2018: Carrick meets a 41-year-old woman online, whom he sexually assaults while she cleans his bathroom.
– 2019: Hertfordshire Police receive a third party report of assault and criminal damage involving an argument between Carrick and a woman during a domestic incident. He is said to have grabbed her by the neck.
Neither party is supportive of police involvement and no further action is taken after the case is looked at by the domestic abuse unit.
The incident is referred to the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards and Carrick is given words of advice in relation to informing his chain of command about off-duty incidents. It is determined he has no case to answer in relation to misconduct.
– July 2020: Carrick meets a woman on an online dating site whom he goes on to rape, causing her injuries. He is verbally and physically aggressive, urinates on her and uses sex toys against her will.
– July 2021: The woman reports being raped by Carrick. He is arrested by Hertfordshire Police over the allegation but no further action is taken after she withdraws the complaint.
The Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards is made aware and Carrick is placed on restricted duties. It is determined he has no case to answer in relation to any misconduct and in September the restriction is lifted, although he never returns to full duties.
– October 1 2021: A 50-year-old woman reports she was raped by Carrick in September 2020. He is arrested, charged and suspended by the Met.
– October 4: Carrick is remanded in custody after appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged with rape.
– October 2021-October 2022: The publicity prompts another 12 women to come forward and make allegations against Carrick.
– December 13 2022: Carrick pleads guilty to 43 offences at the Old Bailey. His pay is stopped by the Met.
– January 16 2023: Carrick admits a further six charges at Southwark Crown Court.
– January 17 2023: He is sacked by the Met following a special misconduct hearing.
– February 6-7: Carrick is sentenced at Southwark Crown Court.
Carrick faced no criminal sanctions or misconduct findings and police chiefs across England and Wales have since been asked to have all officers checked against national police databases by the end of March.
He was finally sacked from the force last month after pleading guilty and being unmasked as one of the country’s most prolific sex offenders.
Carrick’s crimes are set to form part of the independent inquiry looking at the murder of Sarah Everard, who was raped and strangled by then-serving Met officer Wayne Couzens in March 2021.
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