Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick pleads guilty to 49 offences including multiple rapes
David Carrick committed the offences against 12 women between 2003 and 2020, ITV News' Chloe Keedy reports
Serving Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick has pleaded guilty to 49 offences, including 24 counts of rape.
PC Carrick, an armed officer who had worked on the parliamentary estate in Westminster, committed the offences against 12 women between 2003 and 2020.
Southwark Crown Court heard how Carrick, 48, locked women in a small cupboard in his home, urinated on some of his victims and whipped one with a belt.
The Met says 1,633 cases - involving 1,071 of its own officers and staff - of alleged sexual offences or domestic violence are being reviewed.
Carrick had come to the attention of the Metropolitan Police over nine incidents including allegations of rape, domestic violence, and harassment over a 21-year stretch. The Metropolitan Police apologised on Monday as Carrick plead guilty.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley apologised to the victims.
“We’ve let women and girls down, and indeed we’ve let Londoners down,” he said.
“I do understand also that this will lead to some women across London questioning whether they can trust the Met to keep them safe.
“We have failed. And I’m sorry. He should not have been a police officer.”
Carrick – who joined the Met in 2001 before becoming an armed officer with the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command in 2009 – faced no criminal sanctions or misconduct findings, and was only suspended after being arrested over a second rape complaint in October 2021.
He appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Monday. Wearing a dark suit, shirt and tie, Carrick stood in the dock to plead guilty to four counts of rape, false imprisonment and indecent assault, relating to a 40-year-old woman in 2003.
In December, Carrick, who served in the Army before joining the Met in 2001, admitted 43 charges relating to 11 other women between March 2004 and July 2020 at the Old Bailey.
Met Police Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray says she 'can not guarantee there isn't another sex offender' within the force's ranks - adding they are 'determined' to identify any culprits
They were 20 counts of rape, nine counts of sexual assault, five counts of assault by penetration, three counts of coercive and controlling behaviour, two counts of false imprisonment, two counts of attempted rape, one count of attempted sexual assault by penetration, and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.
Carrick denied a further count of rape in September 2020 relating to a 13th woman, whose allegation triggered the investigation, and the Crown Prosecution Service decided it was not in the public interest to proceed to trial on the charge.
Over drinks in a pub on September 4 2020, Carrick told her he was a firearms officer nicknamed “Bastard Dave”, showed her his warrant card and boasted of meeting famous people, including then-prime minister Boris Johnson, in the course of his work, a court previously heard.
It was one of the biggest news stories of our time - and it's still not over. So what did Boris Johnson know about Downing Street’s notorious parties? With fresh revelations from our Number 10 sources, in their own words, listen to the inside story...
Carrick's 49 offences include the rape of nine different women, but some of the charges are multiple incident counts, meaning they relate to more than 80 sexual offences, including at least 48 rapes.
Detective Chief Inspector Iain Moor, from Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, said the “sheer number of offences” showed Carrick’s “prolific and callous nature” and he expects even more victims to come forward.
Carrick met some of the women through online dating sites such as Tinder and Badoo or on social occasions, using his position as a police officer to gain their trust.
The 49 offences Carrick pleaded guilty to:
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
one count of indecent assault
“Whilst he was not a man that stalked the streets scouting for victims – he invested time in developing relationships with women to sustain his appetite for degradation and control – the coercive nature of his offending undermined his victims in the most destructive way,” said Mr Moor.
Carrick admitted raping nine of the women, some on multiple occasions over months or years, with many of those attacks involving violence that would have left them physically injured. Some were locked in a small cupboard under the stairs in his Hertfordshire home for hours without food or forced to clean his house naked. Carrick whipped one woman with a belt, urinated on some of his victims, and told them when they could eat and sleep. He called women “fat and lazy” or his “slave” as he controlled them financially, isolated them from friends and family, and forbade them from speaking with other men or even their own children. “He thrived on humiliating his victims and cleverly used his professional position to intimate there was no point in them trying to seek help because they would never be believed,” said Mr Moor.
Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray, the Met’s lead for professionalism, said Carrick’s offending was “unprecedented in policing” and apologised to his victims for failing to remove him from the force. “We should have spotted his pattern of abusive behaviour and because we didn’t, we missed opportunities to remove him from the organisation,” she said. “We are truly sorry that being able to continue to use his role as a police officer may have prolonged the suffering of his victims.”
Ms Gray also said she "cannot guarantee there isn't another sex offender" within the force's ranks, but added that the force is "determined" to identify any culprits.