Rishi Sunak to meet Met chief as he demands the force rebuilds ‘public confidence’ after ‘sickening’ David Carrick case – with calls growing for the rapist PC to be stripped of his £22,000-a-year pension

• Rishi Sunak will meet Scotland Yard commissioner to discuss David Carrick case 
• Carrick has admitted to 49 charges against women, with 24 counts of rape
• Scotland Yard said it is unlikely that he could be stripped of his retirement funds
• But Sadiq Khan is pursuing a forfeiture action, backed by Suella Braverman

Rishi Sunak is set to meet the Scotland Yard chief today as he demands the force ‘rebuilds trust’ in the wake of the David Carrick case.

The PM is visiting a police station with Mark Rowley, with aides saying he will discuss issues raised by the ‘appalling’ revelations.

In the Commons this afternoon, Mr Sunak said the abuse of power by the disgraced officer was ‘truly sickening and our thoughts are with his victims’.

‘The police must address the failings in this case, restore public confidence and ensure the safety of women and girls,’ he told MPs.

‘There will be no place to hide for those who use their position to intimidate those women and girls, or those who have failed to act to reprimand or remove those people from office.’

The comments came amid growing calls for the rapist policeman to be stripped of his state-funded pension.

There had been concerns Carrick might be able to keep the fund – estimated at £22,000 a year – because he committed his crimes while off-duty.

Carrick has admitted 49 charges against a dozen women, including 24 counts of rape, but is still in line for £22,000 a year in retirement income whenever he is released from prison.

The 48-year-old abused his police powers to target his victims, showing them his warrant card and saying: ‘I’m a police officer, you’re safe with me.’

Scotland Yard said Home Office rules made it unlikely that he could be stripped of his gold-plated, final-salary pension.

Rishi Sunak (pictured at PMQs) is set to meet the Scotland Yard chief today as he demands the force ‘rebuilds trust’ in the wake of the David Carrick case

Met chief Mark Rowley is now grappling with the first major scandal of his four-month tenure by launching a review into 800 serving officers who have faced misconduct claims

David Carrick has admitted 49 charges against a dozen women, including 24 counts of rape

However London Mayor Sadiq Khan is pursuing a forfeiture action, backed by Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

Met chief Mark Rowley is now grappling with the first major scandal of his four-month tenure by launching a review into 800 serving officers who have faced misconduct claims.

He admitted yesterday that he could not guarantee that more sex offenders did not lurk in the ranks.

Home Office guidelines state that ‘forfeiture’ applications to remove a police pension can be made when an officer has been convicted of a criminal offence committed in connection with their service which leads to a serious loss of confidence in policing.

But a Met spokesman said this was unlikely because Carrick’s offending was committed while off duty.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council is to ask all forces to check their officers against national police databases to help identify anyone who has ‘slipped through the net’ before vetting standards were toughened, in the wake of the Carrick case.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has also asked the College of Policing to strengthen the statutory code of practice for police vetting, making the obligations all forces must legally follow stricter and clearer.

In a statement, she said: ‘David Carrick’s sickening crimes are a stain on the police and he should never have been allowed to remain as an officer for so long.

‘We are taking immediate steps to ensure predatory individuals are not only rooted out of the force, but that vetting and standards are strengthened to ensure they cannot join the police in the first place.

‘Every day thousands of decent, hard-working police officers perform their duties with the utmost professionalism and I am sure they all share my disgust at his despicable betrayal of everything they stand for.’

Another watchdog review has been commissioned so His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) can check how forces have responded to its recent findings on vetting and corruption within the ranks to ‘make sure chief officers are taking the necessary action to remove those who are not fit to serve’.

The Home Office has also launched a review of the police disciplinary system to make sure officers who ‘are not fit to serve the public’ and ‘fall short of the high standards expected of them’ can be sacked.

Officials will examine decision making at misconduct hearings, and the panels tasked with leading them, as well as checking forces have the powers they need to take action against rogue officers. The review is expected to be completed within about four months.

More than 1,000 Metropolitan Police officers and staff who have previously been accused of domestic abuse or sexual offences are having their cases reviewed.

As an elite parliamentary protection officer with two decades on the force, Carrick is likely to have been paid about £43,000, a police source said.

And the Met’s gold-plated scheme means at 60 his pension would be worth £22,000 annually, according to calculations from Ian Cook at wealth management firm Quilter.

This would cost the average private sector worker £730,000 to secure on the open market, said William Burrows of the Retirement Planning Project, a financial advice firm.

Former home secretary Priti Patel said London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Home Secretary Suella Braverman should do everything possible to deny Carrick his entire pension.

‘If he left prison with a pension pot of hundreds of thousands, with the majority coming from his employer, that would be ludicrous and unjustifiable,’ she said.

Former victims commissioner Dame Vera Baird said: ‘There should be some room for sensible discretion here because in instances like this of course it would be appropriate to take a pension pot away from such a serious offender. What does it matter if he was on duty or not? I hope his victims will be compensated without having to go to court.’

Freedom of information data shows that just 42 applications for forfeiture of police pensions were approved in the five years to November 2022.

Police officers who face losing their pensions after being convicted of serious crimes can go to the High Court to fight their case.

Detectives who investigated Carrick said they expected more victims to come forward

A senior police source said forfeitures happened only in extreme cases such as national security breaches, but Carrick’s abuse of his position to facilitate offending meant there could be a strong case to seize his employer contributions.

A spokesman for the Mayor’s office for policing and crime in London said it would pursue forfeiture, arguing: ‘It is clear that PC Carrick committed offences in connection with his service as a member of a police force.’

The office is expected to discuss the case with the Met, then apply to the Home Secretary for a certificate of forfeiture for the pension to be taken away. Mrs Braverman said she supported the move but, even if the application was successful, Carrick would keep the 35 per cent of the pension pot he contributed himself.

He is understood to have been letting out his home in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, to a family while on remand at more than £1,200 a month.

His 80 offences came between 2003 and 2020 but a six-year gap between 2009 and 2015 has convinced detectives there are more victims. Hertfordshire Constabulary has set up a portal for women to come forward.

Carrick will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court in London on February 6. He is likely to face many years behind bars.

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