The Met could have stopped police rapist David Carrick – how can it have failed yet again?

‘The challenge is to change how they think about their colleagues, about how predatory sex offenders operate, and about victims.’ New Scotland Yard in London this morning. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

I have spent years calling out misogyny and sexual violence within the police service, but the story of David Carrick left me speechless.

Carrick has served in the Met for 20 years, and is now an armed officer in the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command – an elite, sought-after job that requires extensive vetting. And yet he admitted on Monday to 49 counts of sexual offences against 12 women over 17 years, including 24 counts of rape and three of false imprisonment. The physical and verbal abuse the women endured was sickening – he forced some to stay in a cramped cupboard in his house for hours at a time, calling one his “slave”.