Martin Bentham
(Picture: Daniel Hambury)Appalling, abhorrent, devastating and sickening are some of descriptions applied to the crimes of the serial rapist and Met officer David Carrick, whose conviction for 49 offences including 24 rapes has made him one of the country’s worst ever sex offenders.
All are justified but the truth is that it’s hard to find words to express sufficiently either the horror of this vile man’s conduct or its disastrous impact upon the already dire reputation of the force where he worked for more than 20 years, using his status as a police officer to intimidate his victims.
There have been some dark days for the Met recently, with the jailing of officer Wayne Couzens for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard, the awful disclosures about racist and misogynistic conduct at Charing Cross police station, and the posting on social media of photos taken by police of the bodies of murder victims Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman among the litany of cases that have already heaped shame on the force.
But this is rock bottom. Carrick should never been allowed to get away with his crimes for so long because, as the Met admits, there were enough warning signs with the multiple complaints over more than two decades about his behaviour towards women to have identified his predatory nature and brought him to justice long ago.
His victims have suffered terribly as a result of this and subsequent inaction. It’s not only Carrick who should feel shame at what’s happened, but also those within the Met who failed to respond rigorously enough to the evidence of his malignant conduct. Some should probably face disciplinary hearings of their own.
Other actions the Met must take include strengthening vetting procedures and ensuring the investigations taking place into officers who have previously been subject to domestic or sexual offence allegations are conducted vigorously to remove other dangerous predators still in uniform.
The Government must also make it easier for forces to sack officers. It’s intolerable that Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowleythinks there are police in his ranks who shouldn’t be there but can’t get rid of them under existing rules. The days of shame for the Met must be brought to an end.
