David Carrick, 50, who previously pleaded guilty to a “large number” of sexual and other offences relating to a significant number of other women, is now on trial over fresh charges
A “predatory and controlling” former police officer sexually abused a girl and a woman in a “pattern” of offending spanning many years, a court has heard.
David Carrick, 50, is accused of repeatedly molesting the girl in the late 1980s, when she was aged 12 to 14 and he was still a teenager himself. The court was told Carrick would put his hand over her mouth to prevent her screaming.
The jury also heard that on one occasion, she found herself “trapped” between a chair and a sofa and recalled trying to scream and get away. She did not remember him saying anything, jurors heard.
When the victim was 14, she allegedly told her mother what was going on. The defendant allegedly made admissions about what he had done to the girl in a letter that was recovered from his medical records and signed “Dave”.
In the letter, Carrick wrote that the girl was “not crazy” and that it was “true” but he had stopped about four months before. He wrote: “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 offered to go away and never be seen again, adding: “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.”
Jurors were shown a filmed interview with the now-adult complainant. She recalled how she thought Carrick was like a “shadow” or “ghost” when he first started abusing her. Asked how she reacted, she replied: “Shock. Fear. What do I do?
“I didn’t know what to do… I think it was like a bad dream. I feel a lot to blame. I can’t understand why I didn’t scream.”
She said she was “distraught” as Carrick touched her sexually, saying: “It’s a weird feeling. It’s not right.” Despite Carrick never saying a word during the incidents, the victim claimed she knew it was him because of his “teenage smell”, she said.
After telling her mother, the girl was taken to see her GP and referred to a psychologist, but she said: “It was just brushed under the carpet like it was nothing.” In the interview, she described Carrick as “very sly”, “manipulative” and lacking in emotion.
When he was interviewed by police about the allegations, Carrick claimed the girl was a liar and denied there was any sexual abuse, jurors heard.
More than 20 years later, he allegedly raped a woman “on a number of occasions” and subjected her to a sexual act which she did not consent to, jurors were told. At the time, the pair were in a “toxic relationship”, which was controlled by him, the Old Bailey heard.
Opening his Old Bailey trial on Tuesday, prosecutor Tom Little KC said: “This case that you are now trying is primarily about sexual offending committed many years apart by this defendant. But in respect of all the offending, whenever it was committed, the defendant was, we say, very predatory and controlling. This was not isolated offending but part of a pattern which the defendant perpetrated over many years.”
Mr Little added: “It is also relevant for you to know that he was at the time of that relationship, as he was for many years, a Metropolitan Police officer.” The prosecutor told jurors that Carrick was already a convicted sex offender.
Mr Little said that, in 2022 and 2023, Carrick pleaded guilty to a “large number” of sexual and other offences relating to a significant number of other women, nearly all of whom he knew, jurors heard. They included no less than 71 instances of sexual violence against 12 different women over a period spanning 17 years, Mr Little said.
Outlining the fresh allegations, Mr Little said the first complainant in the trial was around the age of 12 when she was repeatedly sexually assaulted. Mr Little went on to say there were “stark similarities” between the offences Carrick had admitted to and the second complainants account of being raped and sexually assaulted.
The woman was at university when she met Carrick through a dating app and he would get cross that she did not have enough time for him, Mr Little said. He would call her abusive names and kick her out of the house if she did not do something he wanted, it was alleged.
On one occasion, he pinned her down and raped her as she tried to get away, telling the woman, “You are not going anywhere”, the court was told. Afterwards, he rolled over, apologised and hugged her, jurors were told.
Mr Little said: “She did not know who to tell or whether anyone would believe her and so she did not tell anyone. 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 relationship ended for good after Carrick allegedly went “berserk” after a nightshift, grabbed her hair and tried to pull her down stairs, the court was told. At the time, Carrick was still a serving officer and had yet to be “unmasked”, Mr Little said.
Following his prosecution in 2022 and 2023, the woman provided a detailed account, including another alleged incident in which he made her apologise for not obeying him before letting her back into the house. Mr Little said: “That tells you everything you need to know about the power dynamic in the relationship and his attitude to women.”
When he was interviewed about the allegations, Carrick said the sexual activity with the woman was consensual. Carrick has denied five counts of sexual assault relating to the girl in 1989 and 1990.
He has pleaded not guilty to two charges of rape, one of sexual assault and coercive and controlling behaviour towards the woman between 2014 and 2019. Neither of the alleged victims in the case can be identified for legal reasons.
The Old Bailey trial was adjourned until Wednesday.
