The offences came to light after he pleaded guilty in 2022 and 2023 to 71 sexual offences
Predatory ex- police officer David Carrick has been handed his 37th life sentence after being convicted of sexual abuse dating back 35 years. Carrick, 50, who served as an armed officer in the Metropolitan Police, was a teenager when he molested a 12-year-old child in the late 1980s.
More than 20 years later and while working as a police officer, he repeatedly raped and abused a woman 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 other women over 17 years.
Carrick, who denied the fresh allegations, is already serving 36 life sentences in 2023 with a minimum term of 32 years. On Thursday, Mrs Justice McGowan handed Carrick another life sentence with a minimum term of 30 years to run concurrently.
He was sentenced at the Old Bailey after being found guilty of two charges of rape and 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.
Sentencing, Mrs Justice McGowan recognised the “courage and resilience” of the victims. She also noted Carrick’s “cynical willingness” for the two women to be forced to give evidence in court due to his continued denial of wrongdoing.
On the sexual assaults on a child when Carrick was aged 14 or 15, the judge said: “They were the first examples to come to light of your disposition to commit predatory sexual crimes.” She added: “I have no doubt that you are dangerous and the life sentences on an earlier occasion are fully merited.”
During the trial, jurors heard how Carrick abused a young girl for about 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 previously. Giving evidence in court, the victim said: “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.
At first she found him “charming” 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.
Following the verdicts, senior Crown prosecutor Shilpa Shah 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.”
Detective Superintendent Iain Moor, of Hertfordshire Constabulary, 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.” Police have urged any other victims of Carrick’s sexual offending to come forward.
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