A former Met officer unmasked as one of Britain’s worst ever rapists was today handed his 37th life sentence for sexually assaulting a girl and raping an ex-partner.
‘Predatory and controlling’ David Carrick, 50, attacked the 12-year-old girl over two years while he was aged between 14 and 16.
And he was a serving police officer when he repeatedly raped the woman between 2014 and 2015 then repeatedly forced her to perform sex acts on him in 2019.
The offences came to light after he pleaded guilty in 2022 and 2023 to 71 sexual offences, including 48 rapes, against 12 other women over 17 years.
Carrick, who denied the fresh allegations, is already serving 36 life sentences in 2023 with a minimum term of 32 years.
A judge today handed him another life sentence with a minimum term of 30 years to run concurrently.
Carrick confessed to the attacks on the girl in a letter that was recovered 30 years later in his medical records which could have prevented him from joining the police had it come to light sooner.
Sentencing, Mrs Justice McGowan said Carrick could have been stopped had this confession been acted on.
She told Carrick: ‘You were able to admit what you did but despite that you changed the meaning of that confession in these proceedings.
‘The confession was not acted on in a way that may have prevented you from attacking and raping many other women. They were the first examples to come to light of your disposition to commit predatory sexual crimes.’
Mrs Justice McGowan recognised the ‘courage and resilience’ of the victims.
She also noted Carrick’s ‘cynical willingness’ for the two women to be forced to give evidence in court due to his continued denial of wrongdoing.
On the sexual assaults on a child when Carrick was aged 14 or 15, the judge said: ‘They were the first examples to come to light of your disposition to commit predatory sexual crimes.’
She added: ‘I have no doubt that you are dangerous and the life sentences on an earlier occasion are fully merited.’
The judge said Carrick could have been stopped if his former partner’s complaint had been acted upon earlier.
‘Her complaint at the time was not acted upon in a way that might have prevented you from going on to be able to go on to rape and assault many other women,’ she told the court.
The Old Bailey trial heard he would hold his hand over the schoolgirl’s mouth to stop her screaming as he abused her – sometimes twice a week – over an 18-month period.
On one occasion he is said to have ‘trapped’ her between a chair and a sofa to abuse her.
The girl told her mother that Carrick was abusing her when she was 14 and he admitted the attacks in a letter that was later recovered from his medical records. ‘I know how (the girl) must feel.
‘That’s why I stopped and promised I would never go near her again and I have kept that promise and I always will,’ he wrote at the time.
‘Sorry to you and especially sorry to (the girl) but she does not have to worry ever again. Please do not try to talk about it.’
The victim told Carrick’s trial: ‘When I heard he was a Metropolitan Police officer, the words I have always used were: ‘God help anyone with him with a warrant card’.’
More than 20 years later he met the woman via a dating app then pinned her down when she asked him to stop having sex, telling her ‘you are not going anywhere,’ Tom Little KC, prosecuting, told jurors.
‘He then rolled over and apologized and hugged her. She was crying. The defendant then became upset and started crying. They did not talk about it, and they went to sleep.’
The victim was in pain for six weeks afterwards and felt she could not tell anyone what had happened, Mr Little said.
‘Given that he was a Met Police officer it may be obvious and understandable that she took the view that at that point she would not be believed.’
The toxic relationship between the couple bore stark similarities with others during which Carrick had already admitted rape and sustained abuse, Mr Little said.
The relationship came to an end after a fight spilled out onto the street in September 2019 when the woman refused to get naked and wait in Carrick’s bed.
‘They were on the stairs, he grabbed her hair and tried to pull her down the stairs, she fought back trying to get him off,’ Mr Little said.
‘At one stage she was holding onto the banister, which got broken. The neighbours came out and separated them and then police arrived.’
Hertfordshire Police answered the call to Carrick’s home in Stevenage and referred the report to Carrick’s force – but he was given no misconduct case to answer and the incident was not properly investigated.
The officer was simply given ‘words of advice in relation to informing his chain of command about off duty incidents.’
This episode was one of nine occasions since 2000 that Carrick was reported to the police.
Despite this, he maintained a job in the parliamentary protection unit of Britain’s biggest police force and abused his position to coerce his terrified victims in a campaign of sexual abuse.
The scandal rocked British policing and led to the Met urgently probing more than 1,000 of its own officers who had faced complaints of domestic abuse or sexual offending over the past decade.
Carrick declined to give evidence in his trial but when he was interviewed in November 2023 said the schoolgirl was a ‘liar’ and claimed that no sexual abuse occurred.
And he insisted that all sexual activity with the woman was consensual.
He was convicted of five counts of sexual assault relating to the girl in 1989 and 1990 and two charges of rape, one of sexual assault and coercive and controlling behaviour towards the woman between 2014 and 2019.
Carrick bowed his head but showed no emotion as the jury forewoman delivered the verdicts.
Carrick joined the Met in 2001 despite the fact that he had been investigated the previous year on suspicion of breaking into an ex-partner’s home and stealing her underwear.
The first rape he committed as a police officer for which he was later convicted took place in 2003.
Following the verdicts, senior Crown prosecutor Shilpa Shah said: ‘I would describe David Carrick as a manipulative, controlling and abusive man who created a facade for the rest of the world so that no-one would realise what he was doing behind closed doors.
‘He was aggressive, abusive, violent, and yet he appeared to be charming and charismatic. He didn’t count on his victims coming forward and exposing him as they have, and I’d like to thank them for doing so.’
Detective Superintendent Iain Moor, of Hertfordshire Constabulary, said: ‘I’m pleased that we’ve been able to get justice for the victims.
‘This was all about them and ensuring that they had a voice, and that they were able to tell their story and be believed. Hopefully it will help them with their recovery.’
Police have urged any other victims of Carrick’s sexual offending to come forward.
