Two of Met police rapist David Carrick’s fellow officers sent one of his victims a string of sexually suggestive messages and pictures, according to reports.
Sky News published photographs of uniformed officers, armed with guns, they say were sent to the woman.
It reports one officer contacted her three days after Carrick was arrested in October 2021 to say “hey”. It is Met policy only investigating officers can contact crime victims.
Detectives from Hertfordshire Police, who were investigating Carrick, told her not to reply and spoke to the officer involved but took no further action.
The woman told Sky News: “When I saw that message I froze. I was so scared. I was worried he was messaging to check up on me. I didn’t know if he was trying to intimidate me or not.
“I told the police officers I was dealing with and they seemed shocked. They told me not to message back.”
Other messages, sent after the woman’s relationship with Carrick ended in the 2010s, includes a text about her photos on social media.
The officer wrote: “Very cute sexy pic on facebook xx.”
He later text: “You should give me a facial”, and “I wanna get you drunk!xxx”.
The officer texted the woman over several months, regularly telling her she was “hot”, and offering to meet her after work.
Four pictures from two officers in the Met’s Diplomatic and Parliamentary Protection Command were sent to the woman including a selfie from an officer taken in a toilet mirror with the gun over his groin area.
Hariet Wistrich, of the Centre for Women’s Justice, is calling for an investigation.
She told Sky News: “These messages are a perfect example of the problem we have been seeing with this extreme misogyny and attitudes toward women in elite units like this. This is horrifying.
“This particular unit has developed a toxic culture which, as these messages show, have become the norm.
“These officers should be investigated and prosecuted for misconduct.”
Carrick will serve a minimum of 30 years in jail after he pleaded guilty to 49 offences including rape, false imprisonment and possession of a weapon.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: “We have been made aware of contact between two Met officers and a woman who was in a relationship with David Carrick. The woman later came forward as a victim of Carrick’s offending.
“The information has been provided to us by a media outlet. Officers are making efforts to establish contact with the victim to make further enquiries. We are also aware that the same woman received a message from a Met officer following Carrick’s arrest in October 2021.
“Officers from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, who led the criminal investigation into Carrick, spoke to the officer at the time and were satisfied that no further action was required in relation to their investigation.
“We have been clear about our commitment to delivering the highest standards and we will not hesitate to take the appropriate action if wrongdoing on the part of any officers is identified in this case.”
