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London Cop Revealed As One of the UK's Worst-Ever Serial Rapists

David Carrick, who worked for an elite armed unit in London’s Metropolitan Police, admitted 49 offences, including 24 rapes, against 12 women over 18 years.
David Carrick metropolitan police rapist
David Carrick. Photo: Hertfordshire Police

A police officer with London’s Metropolitan Police has admitted carrying out dozens of rapes and sexual offences against 12 women over a period of almost 20 years.

David Carrick pleaded guilty to 49 offences including 24 counts of rape, nine counts of sexual assault and five counts of assault by penetration.

The 48-year-old, who up until his suspension and arrest in October 2021 worked in an elite armed unit tasked with guarding embassies and Parliament, now stands as one of the worst serial rapists in modern criminal history in the UK. And this is despite the Metropolitan Police being told of repeated allegations throughout his career.

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On Monday the 16th of January Carrick appeared at London’s Southwark Crown Court, where he pleaded guilty to a string of offences, including four counts of rape, false imprisonment and indecent assault relating to a 40-year-old woman in 2003. 

It can now be revealed that he had already admitted 43 other charges, including 20 counts of rape, in December. 

The court heard how the Metropolitan Police had been told about nine incidents from 2000 to 2021, including eight alleged attacks, but that they had taken no action because the women either refused to formally complain or they withdrew their cooperation from the police investigation. 

Carrick was finally suspended from duty in October 2021 after a second rape complaint was made against him and he was arrested. 

His work nickname was “bastard Dave” and the UK’s Guardian newspaper reported that other victims he has admitted attacking were warned that if they spoke out about him raping and sexually assaulting them they would not be believed because he was a police officer. 

Carrick joined the Metropolitan Police in 2001, serving with the force’s elite, and armed, parliamentary and diplomatic command from 2009 onwards.

The offences mainly took place in Hertfordshire, where Carrick lived, and police and prosecutors say that Carrick sought to dominate and humiliate his victims  – including turning a cupboard under his stairs into a dark space he would use to entrap victims. 

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Several of the women were urinated on and verbally abused, including one who was called a “slave”.

DCI Iain Moor, who led the investigation into Carrick by Hertfordshire police, said: “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.

“Many of the rape offences came with violence against the victim, who would have been physically injured.”

He added: "It is unbelievable to think these offences could have been committed by a serving police officer.

"The offending was absolutely abhorrent and I'm disgusted by it.”

Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray, the Metropolitan Police's lead for professionalism, said that 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."

The Metropolitan Police are due to hold a hearing on Tuesday as part of their misconduct process, where they have said they would be starting the process of formally sacking him. They stopped his pay after his first guilty pleas were made. 

Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said: “This is an institution in crisis. That Carrick’s horrific pattern of egregious behaviour was known to the Met, and they failed to take appropriate action, demonstrates just how broken the systems which are supposed to keep the public safe from perpetrators of rape and abuse are. These failings speak more loudly than any of the Met’s promises to tackle violence against women. We stand in solidarity with the victims and all survivors who may find the details of his abuse distressing and retraumatising.

“While Carrick’s actions are appalling, bringing him to justice is merely the beginning of what we need to see. This isn’t just about individual ‘bad apples’ – it’s about police leaders taking responsibility for transforming a culture that normalises and condones misogyny and racism, and enables officers to abuse their power with impunity.”

Carrick will be sentenced next month.