Carrick, 50, penned a letter admitting to abusing a 12-year-old girl before going on to commit a string of sexual offences while serving as an officer with the Met Police
A confession made by serial rapist David Carrick could have changed the course of history – if it wasn’t discovered by police 35 years after it was originally written, a top cop has said.
The twisted ex copper, 50, was today found guilty of molesting a 12-year-old girl and a raping former partner in incidents spaced more than 20 years apart. Carrick, who has already been jailed for life, was convicted today of the molestation, which he carried out aged 14, and eight other offences following a trial at the Old Bailey.
But a written confession note from 35 years ago, which was filed with his medical records, could have brought his offending to light sooner, and led to a “very different” future, according to a lead investigator.
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In the note, which was dated August 29, 1990, Carrick, then a teenager, had admitted to abusing a 12-year-old girl. It was only after Carrick, originally from Stevenage, was jailed for life in 2023 for the rape and abuse of 12 women, that the note finally surfaced as part of a second investigation.
Superintendent Iain Moor, who led the Hertfordshire Police investigation, suggested that the future would have been “very different” had Carrick’s offending been picked up in 1990. He told the PA news agency: “It’s very difficult to apply today’s standards back to the 1990s. Obviously, we have multi-agency safeguarding hubs now. We have mechanisms for reports to come in from GPs, from medical professionals.
“But I think had something occurred and the police became aware back in 1990, then it is possible that the offending could have been picked up at that point and then the future looks very different. It’s difficult to say exactly what that path would be, but I’m sure it’d be different to the one that we have today.”
Signed from “Dave”, Carrick wrote that the girl was “not crazy” and that it was “true”, but that he had stopped abusing her about four months ago. Carrick 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.” Carrick had written the letter after the girl told her mother what was going on, but no further action was taken and the matter was “brushed under the carpet”, according to the victim.
In February 2023, Carrick was handed 36 life sentences with a minimum term of 32 years after he pleaded guilty to 71 sexual offences against 12 women, including 48 rapes. He was found guilty of several new offences today at the Old Bailey after jurors deliberated for five hours.
He was found fuilty on five counts of indecent assault against a girl under 16 between April 1989 and August 1990, two counts of rape against a woman, once between December 2014 and April 2016 then between January and December 2019, sexual assault against the same woman between January and December 2019, and coercive and controlling behaviour in relation to the same woman between 2016 and 2019.
Carrick, who was seen shaking his head as the verdicts were read out in court, will be sentenced in a hearing set to begin on Thursday morning.
