UK policeman jailed for life over serial rapes, must serve at least 30 years

A UK judge on Tuesday sentenced a former policeman to life in jail, with a minimum term of 30 years, for dozens of rapes and sexual assaults, in the latest shocking case to shame London's Metropolitan Police force.

Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb handed David Carrick 36 life sentences for the "monstrous" string of 71 sexual offences, including 48 rapes, against 12 women, telling him he represented a "grave danger to women" which would "last indefinitely".

Carrick, a long-serving officer in London's Metropolitan Police, has pleaded guilty to 49 charges including 24 counts of rape over the course of 17 years.

He used his status as a police officer to initially reassure women and begin relationships, before subjecting them to what the prosecutor called "a catalogue of violent and brutal sexual offences".

"He frequently relied on his charm to beguile and mislead the victims in the first place and would then use his power and control, in part because of what he did for a living, to stop them leaving or consider reporting him," prosecutor Tom Little told the court on Monday. 

Carrick humiliated the women, including locking them naked in a small cupboard, urinating on them and whipping them.

In statements read out by the prosecutor, his victims said they felt "trapped" by him and "don't trust the police anymore".

During the trial, it emerged that police had records of multiple complaints and allegations involving Carrick's behavior towards women, but he never faced a disciplinary hearing. 

He was only sacked from the police last month after pleading guilty in court. 

Interior minister Suella Braverman said Monday that it was "clear that policing must do better". 

She added she has asked police forces to strengthen vetting and "standards need to rise so that cases like these... become a thing of the past". 

The Met, Britain's biggest force, has apologized for failing to act on the prior allegations levelled against Carrick, who served in an armed unit protecting MPs and foreign diplomats. 

The force's Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray said ahead of the sentencing that "we failed to identify a man in the ranks... who carried out the most awful offences". 

"He should not have been a police officer," she added. 

The force admitted last month that on average two to three officers faced criminal charges in court every week. 

The Met has responded to Carrick's case by setting up an investigative team to target staff suspected of domestic abuse or sexual offences. 

It is reviewing all current officers and staff who have faced such allegations that did not result in charges or misconduct hearings. 

Anger and distrust towards the police has mounted since the murder of Londoner Sarah Everard during the pandemic in March 2021 by an off-duty police officer, Wayne Couzens, who raped and strangled her. 

Carrick served in the same VIP protection unit as Couzens, who has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in jail. 

(AFP)