A London Metropolitan Police officer has admitted to two dozen rapes and nearly 50 offenses in total spanning nearly two full decades while he was working in active duty on the force.

On Monday, the BBC reported ex-Met officer David Carrick admitted to 24 counts of rape. The former police officer had been first arrested on the charges back in October 2021. He reportedly carried out those horrific sexual assaults from 2003 through 2020 in the Hertfordshire area north of London. Now, with his admission, police are learning more about the depraved and violent extent to which he attacked and subjugated women.

Carrick (pictured in his arrest mugshot, above) is from Stevenage in the center of Hertfordshire. He admitted to raping women in that area over the long span after finding some on dating apps and other online outlets. The news outlet reports he exerted sickening control over the women he raped. He would keep charge of what they wore, limited what they ate, and even “stopped some of the women from speaking to their own children.” Despicable…

Police say he was first brought to their attention in 2021 when a woman came forward with allegations against him. Carrick was arrested, and the London Metropolitan Police immediately suspended him from active duty and began making their case. They began investigating, and the case snowballed. On Monday morning, the Met revealed that the 48-year-old finally admitted to the full slate of charges over a year in.

In total, Carrick has been charged with 24 counts of rape, nine counts of sexual assault, five counts of assault by penetration, three counts of coercive behavior, three counts of false imprisonment, two counts of attempted rape, one count of attempted sexual assault, one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and one count of indecent assault.

Per the BBC, cops say Carrick found some of his victims on online dating sites like Tinder and Badoo. He would use his role as an officer in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command to “gain their trust.” Then he would coerce them into depraved and awful acts. He admitted to raping some of the women “on multiple occasions over months or years,” per the outlet. In other instances, he admitted to imprisoning women in a tiny closet tucked under the stairs of his Stevenage home.

Detective Iain Moor, the senior investigating officer of the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, told the outlet of his reaction upon seeing the closet where some of the women were allegedly held:

“I have seen bigger dog crates.”

OMG…

Speaking outside the courthouse on Monday where Carrick admitted to the crimes, Moor also said he expects even more women to come forward. Per the BBC, another senior officer said the Carrick case is “unprecedented in policing.”

Now, the Crown Prosecution Service is scrambling to react to the shocking admissions. Jaswant Narwal, the chief prosecutor for the service, spoke in a news conference on the matter on Monday:

“The scale of the degradation Carrick subjected his victims to is unlike anything I’ve encountered in my 34 years with the Crown Prosecution Service. … Carrick held a role where he was trusted with the responsibility of protecting the public, but yet over 17 years, in his private life, he did the exact opposite. This is a man who relentlessly degraded, belittled and sexually assaulted and raped women. As time went on, the severity of his offending intensified as he became emboldened, thinking he would get away with it.”

Understandably, the Met is taking heat from the public for not catching Carrick’s reign of terror sooner.

Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray spoke to Sky News on the matter, apologizing for not catching the crooked cop until he was nearly two full decades into his sickening run:

“We should have spotted his pattern of abusive behavior and because we didn’t, we missed opportunities to remove him from the organization. We are truly sorry that being able to continue to use his role as a police officer may have prolonged the suffering of his victims. We know they felt unable to come forward sooner because he told them they would not be believed.”

So sick.

While Carrick’s case will continue to proceed following his admissions of guilt, watchdogs are calling for better oversight of the police in cases like this. Harriet Wistrich, the director of London’s Centre for Women’s Justice, spoke to the media in a press conference about the matter:

“We have known for some time that there has been a culture of impunity for such offending by police officers. Recent reports show a woefully deficient vetting and misconduct system and a largely unchallenged culture of misogyny in some sections of the Met. That Carrick could have not only become a police officer but remain a serving officer for so long whilst he perpetrated these horrific crimes against women, is terrifying.”

Very well said. It’s horrifying to think police expect even MORE allegations against Carrick to come out, too.

Here is more on the aftermath of Carrick’s plea and the ongoing investigation, via Sky News (below):

And to think he operated without attention for so long while serving in such a sensitive law enforcement role…

It’s absolutely sickening.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to learn more about resources, consider checking out https://www.rainn.org/resources.

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