A Metropolitan Police officer who admitted to more than 50 criminal offences of rape, sexual assault and coercive control used his position in the force to abuse women.
David Carrick, 48, today admitted charges spanning almost 20 years and involving at least 13 victims, in what the Crown Prosecution Service has called one of the most “traumatic and harrowing” sexual offence cases.
Carrick, who joined the Metropolitan Police force in 2003, told victims he was a police officer when they met and that they were “safe with him.”
He told one of his victims that he was a Metropolitan Police firearms officer nicknamed “Bastard Dave,” before showing her his warrant card and boasting of meeting famous people, including former prime minister Boris Johnson.
The victim told police that Carrick called her “disgusting” and referred to himself as a “dominant bastard” while raping her the following morning after she woke up naked in the bath with sick in her hair.
However, after gaining their trust, the initially “charming and charismatic” officer became callous and violent with a sinister obsession which included humiliating and controlling his victims.
Investigating officers found that Carrick was “persuasive but also incredibly manipulative” and would tell victims that it would be “his word against his” if they ever attempted to report his long history of abuse.
Iain Moor, detective chief inspector of Hertfordshire major crime unit, said Carrick “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”.
Carrick also used an imitation firearm to strike fear into his victims and frequently locked women away in a cupboard under his stairs and in his home.
Carrick’s manipulation of his victims allowed him to inflict almost two decades of abuse against women who he had relationships with, met online and were even former friends. Officers said he had a pattern of urinating on his victims, forcing them to drink his urine and verbally abusing them with phrases such as “you are my slave”. He would also force women to clean his Hertfordshire home naked and would control how much they could eat or sleep.
It was only after Carrick was charged with the first rape in October 2021, that women began to come forward to report the former officer.
Carrick, who served more than 20 years in the Met, varied his approach to meeting and abusing women. In some cases, he would meet them on a night out and bring them back to his home, in other scenarios he would rape those he was dating or had met on dating apps, including Tinder and Badoo.
“Many of the rape offences came with violence against the victim who would have been physically injured. In some instances, after gaining the victim’s confidence, the levels of sexual violence would escalate and include anal rape, despite the verbal protests of his victims he would continue until sexually gratified,” Mr Moor said.
He added: “It didn’t matter to Carrick who the victim was – a new girlfriend, a long-term partner, his cleaner, a schoolfriend or a stranger – he would still abuse them.”
Senior crown prosecutor, Shilpa Shah, who was the first lawyer involved in the case, said piecing the investigation together had been challenging.
“I’ve worked on the rape and serious sexual offences unit for eight years and this is one of the most traumatic and harrowing cases I’ve had to deal with. On a personal level, it’s been challenging hearing the victims’ accounts. These women have been so brave coming forward and that’s something that they should be commended for,” Ms Shah said.
Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Barbara Gray: “The duration and nature of Carrick’s offending is unprecedented in policing and regrettably he is not the only Met officer to be charged with serious sexual offences in the recent past.
“Our work to rid the Met of these people is urgent and it is far-reaching. We will continue to be relentless in our pursuit of those who corrupt our integrity.”
In a statement, Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said Carrick’s case shows 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,” Ms Simon said.
“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.”
