Former Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick, who was handed 36 life sentences in 2023 with a minimum term of 32 years, has been found guilty of further offences
Former Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick has been found guilty of molesting a 12-year-old girl and raping a former partner.
Carrick, 50, who served as an armed officer in the Metropolitan Police, sexually assaulted the child in the late 1980s. More than 20 years later, he repeatedly raped a woman and subjected her to “degrading and humiliating” abuse during the course of a toxic relationship.
The offences came to light after he pleaded guilty in 2022 and 2023 to 71 sexual offences, including 48 rapes, against 12 women over 17 years. Carrick, who was handed 36 life sentences in 2023 with a minimum term of 32 years, denied the fresh allegations but declined to give evidence in his Old Bailey trial.
A jury deliberated for five hours to find him guilty of two charges of rape, one of sexual assault and coercive and controlling behaviour towards the woman between 2014 and 2019.
The defendant, formerly of Stevenage in Hertfordshire, was found guilty of five counts of indecent assault relating to the girl in the late 1980s. Following the verdict, Hertfordshire Police praised the victims’ bravery and urged any more victims of the sexual offender to come forward.
During the trial, jurors had heard how Carrick abused a young girl for around 18 months before she told her mother what was going on. He confessed in a letter which was recovered from his medical records and signed “Dave”. In it, Carrick wrote that the girl was “not crazy” and that it was “true” but that he had stopped about four months ago.
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.”
In a police interview, the now-grown up victim described the young Carrick as “very sly” and “manipulative”. After she told her mother about the abuse, the matter was “brushed under the carpet like it was nothing”, she said.
Giving evidence in court, she told jurors: “When I heard he was a Metropolitan Police officer, the words I have always used were: ‘God help anyone with him with a warrant card’.”
The second victim met Carrick through a dating website and was aware from the start he was a police officer. She said he was “charming, witty, sarcastic” and acted like “everyone’s best friend”. But during their relationship, he became controlling and raped her on multiple occasions.
She told jurors that she had been left traumatised and that Carrick had “ruined” her life and tainted her views on sex and relationships.
When interviewed in Full Sutton prison in Yorkshire, Carrick claimed that sex with the woman was consensual and accused her of being motivated by the MeToo movement. Despite his written confession, he dismissed the historic child abuse allegations, claiming the girl was a liar.
Prosecutor Tom Little KC told jurors Carrick must have felt “invincible” as a police officer for two decades until everything came “crashing around his ears” in 2022. He said Carrick had set himself up as “Mr Nice Guy” but his silence in the dock was “deafening”.
Following the verdicts, senior Crown prosecutor Shilpa Shah said compelling evidence from both victims and a written confession made a “very strong case”.
The evidence showed Carrick was a child abuser from an early age and that his sexual offending “escalated” in adulthood over decades.
She said: “I would describe David Carrick as a manipulative, controlling and abusive man who created a facade for the rest of the world so that no-one would realise what he was doing behind closed doors.
“He was aggressive, abusive, violent, and yet he appeared to be charming and charismatic. He didn’t count on his victims coming forward and exposing him as they have and I’d like to thank them for doing so.”
She added: “This is one of the most horrific, harrowing cases that I’ve had to deal with. Having to listen to the accounts of the victims, of the degrading and humiliating abuse that they had to suffer, was really quite difficult to do.
“It has been very shocking and that’s why I’d like to thank the victims for coming forward and having the courage to describe what they had to go through so that we were able to secure the convictions that we have today.”
Detective Superintendent Iain Moor, of Hertfordshire Constabulary, said the future could have been very different if Carrick’s confession was handed to police in 1990.
On the guilty verdicts, he said: “I’m pleased that we’ve been able to get justice for the victims.
“This was all about them and ensuring that they had a voice and that they were able to tell their story and be believed. Hopefully it will help them with their recovery.”
Mr Moor said the Carrick case and the murder of Sarah Everard by another serving Met officer Wayne Couzens had been “hugely damaging” to the force.
“Hopefully, people are starting to feel more confident to come forward and report matters to the police. I think there’s still more work to do,” the senior officer said.
Mr Moor urged any other victims of Carrick’s abuse to come forward.
