UK: London police officer acknowledges 24 rapes and multiple assaults

David Carrick, 48, was part of the capital’s police unit responsible for protecting Parliament and diplomatic representations.

A police vehicle, in London, the British capital, in June 2020. (AFP)

The prosecution speaks of “one of the most shocking cases involving a police officer on duty”. A London police officer has confessed to committing 24 rapes and numerous sexual assaults over a period of seventeen years. David Carrick, a 48-year-old police officer, pleaded guilty to four rapes on Monday, January 16. He had already acknowledged, on December 13, forty-three acts of sexual violence, including twenty rapes and sexual assaults. Facts committed between 2003 and 2020.

David Carrick was part of the unit responsible for the protection of Parliament and diplomatic representations within the Metropolitan Police (Met). He was arrested in October 2021 in a first rape case. “As press interest followed, other victims came forward. … The weight of their testimony was extremely powerful,” Chief Inspector Iain Moor said outside court, who expects more victims to come forward.

London mayor ‘absolutely disgusted’

“On behalf of the Metropolitan Police, I want to apologize to the women who suffered at the hands of David Carrick,” Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray said. “We should have spotted his behavior and because we didn’t we missed opportunities to remove him” from the police, she added.

“Police forces must root out these officers to restore public trust, which has been shattered by cases like David Carrick’s,” said a spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. “I am absolutely disgusted by the truly heinous offenses that David Carrick has committed,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said. “We must answer serious questions about how he was able to abuse his position” as a police officer.