In the note dated August 29 1990 and filed with his medical records, Carrick had admitted abusing a 12-year-old girl
A written confession by serial rapist David Carrick lay undiscovered for 35 years, but could have changed the course of history had police known about it at the time, the senior officer leading the investigation has said. In the note dated August 29 1990 and filed with his medical records, Carrick had admitted abusing a 12-year-old girl.
At the time Carrick was himself a teenager, but he grew up to become one of Britain’s most notorious sexual predators, who hid behind his job as an armed Metropolitan Police officer for years. 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 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.
Describing the second investigation that followed, Mr Moor said: “We made an appeal after the first case to see if there were other victims out there. It was my belief there were other victims out there.
“One of these cases we were already aware of from the first investigation, and the other victim then came forward after some news was published as well. I just commend their bravery in coming forward. Obviously David Carrick received 36 life sentences and he’s going to be in prison for a long period of time.
“It takes huge courage for a victim of an offence such as these to come forward.” He said it was important that justice was done for the two women at the heart of the second prosecution.
“From a criminal justice point of view, it’s important that he’s convicted of the offences. But as we know, when somebody gets a sentence such as his, it’s always a question, do we bring a further prosecution?
“In this case, it’s absolutely the right thing to do, so the victims’ voices are heard, and I hope that it would give them some type of closure and help them on their journey to recovery.” On whether there were any other missed opportunities to stop Carrick sooner, Mr Moor said: “There have been some times when there were potential opportunities.
“Some of those are still subject to investigation so it’s very difficult to comment on those.” The senior officer said that the 1990 case put Carrick’s offending in a new light, given the victim’s young age, and expanded the timespan from 17 years to some 30 years.
Mr Moor said he believed there could be more victims who have yet to come forward. He said: “There are varying reasons why people might not be ready to come forward and we fully respect those. But if there are people out there, we would urge them to come forward and we would investigate their offences.”
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