The criminal investigation into the serial rapist David Carrick will stay active even after his sentencing and imprisonment this week, as detectives sift through information about alleged further offending.
Carrick used his status as a Metropolitan police officer to commit 48 rapes amid a spree of 85 serious offences against 12 women, all of which he has pleaded guilty to.
On Monday a sentencing hearing will begin and is expected to end on Tuesday with the 48-year-old facing decades in prison, having last month admitted a 17-year long campaign of terror and humiliation.
Carrick’s offending was so prolific that he is one of the worst sex offenders in modern British legal history and the scandal has rocked the Met, which missed the rapist in their ranks despite repeated complaints against him.
Most of Carrick’s offending took place in Hertfordshire and was against women he met socially or on dating apps, or with whom he had a longer-term relationship.
The criminal investigation will continue even after he begins his prison sentence, with detectives fearing there are more victims who did not come forward to be part of the case they built against Carrick.
After Carrick admitted to the final charges against him on 16 January, Hertfordshire constabulary appealed for any further victims to come forward.
They hope Carrick receiving a long sentence will show any other victims that the criminal justice system – notorious for failing rape victims – has changed and their complaints will be taken seriously.
The first rape charge against Carrick in October 2021 prompted 11 other women to come forward whom Carrick eventually admitted attacking.
The offences Carrick was convicted for started in 2003, continuing until 2009 and then resuming in 2016 through to 2020. The gap of more than six years in offending puzzles detectives, who believe it is unlikely his offending was paused from 2009 to 2016.
Asked in January if there were more victims, DCI Iain Moor, who led the investigation into Carrick, said: “From my experience. I think there will be, yes.”
Carrick pleaded guilty to 49 charges against 12 women between 2003 and 2020. Some of the charges detailed multiple offences. He also locked some victims in a small cupboard.
Police have declined to say how many other potential victims have come forward since January.
Hertfordshire constabulary, which set up a website for potential victims, said in a statement: “We have already received some information via the portal and our usual reporting channels, following Monday’s hearing. We will be contacting everyone who has been in touch.
“Should any further offences come to light they will be investigated accordingly and appropriate support will be provided if required. We will not be providing further detail about the number or nature of these calls.”
Carrick was a Met officer from 2001 until last month, when he was sacked.
The Met received eight complaints from women about Carrick and failed to take action or spot he was a danger before his arrest in October 2021.
In 2009 he passed selection to be given a gun and gain a plum role guarding parliament and diplomatic sites, and cleared vetting again in 2017.
Police and prosecutors said he had exploited his status as a Met officer to put victims at ease, then, as they tried to leave him, threatened that their claims against a serving officer would be disbelieved.
The sentencing hearing at Southwark crown court will hear statements from Carrick’s victims of the impact his attacks on them had.
He will be sentenced by Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, who has told the sacked former Met officer that he must attend in person.
Her sentencing remarks on Tuesday may be televised.
The court of appeal has upheld that offending by a police officer who uses his status to aid his crimes can be an aggravating factor deserving a more punitive sentence.
A court earlier heard that before one alleged attack on a woman in September 2020, Carrick, from Stevenage in Hertfordshire, flashed his police warrant card to make the woman feel safe, bragged about guarding the prime minister, and said his work nickname was “bastard Dave”.
