Four officers and a police staff member will face disciplinary proceedings after investigations into the handling of allegations against serial rapist David Carrick, the police watchdog has said.
Carrick, who believed his position as a police officer made him “untouchable,” raped, assaulted and inflicted “irretrievable destruction” on at least 12 women before intimidating them into silence, was jailed for life in 2023.
He admitted 85 serious offences during a 17-year campaign of terror and attacks against women.
The firearms officer, entrusted to guard parliament and diplomatic sites after the Met missed clue after clue about the danger he posed, will spend at least 30 years in prison for his crimes.
Carrick worked in the same armed unit as marketing executive Sarah Everard’s killer PC Wayne Couzens and their unmasking led to a series of harrowing scandals.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) carried out four independent investigations into what actions were taken by the Metropolitan Police after four reports of serious offending were made against Carrick between 2002 and 2021, while he was a serving Met officer.
Carrick was eventually arrested in October 2021 and jailed in February 2023.
The IOPC said it had decided that a detective sergeant should face a gross misconduct hearing and a further three officers and a staff member should face misconduct meetings for alleged breaches of the police standards of professional behaviour, all relating to failing to progress misconduct investigations against Carrick.
Those facing disciplinary proceedings all worked in the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards at the time.
Two inspectors would have faced a misconduct meeting over this if they had not already retired.
In 2016 another report of assault and harassment was made, which was investigated by Hampshire Police as a potential crime.
No charge was brought, but the Met’s internal standards department failed to investigate potential misconduct.
The IOPC said two officers should face misconduct meetings, one of whom has since moved to City of London Police.
In 2019, a report of assault was made and was investigated by Hertfordshire Constabulary, no charge was brought and again the Met’s internal standards department was told.
Two chief inspectors were told to go through a “reflective practice review process” to consider their failures to investigate Carrick for potential misconduct.
Finally in 2021 a report of rape and sexual assault was made against Carrick, but no criminal charge was brought after an investigation by Hertfordshire.
An internal investigation by the Met found that there was not enough evidence to prove misconduct, and so Carrick had no case to answer.
But the IOPC said that a detective sergeant should face a gross misconduct hearing for allegedly failing to supervise that investigation properly, and a detective constable and a police staff member should face misconduct meetings.
IOPC regional director Mel Palmer said: “Our thoughts continue to be with all of the women who were victims of this serial predator.
“Our investigations into alleged failures to investigate reports made against David Carrick were comprehensive and identified several missed opportunities to pursue misconduct investigations against him.
“In all cases we identified that officers failed to properly explore, investigate or oversee the misconduct investigations against Carrick, who never faced any disciplinary proceedings despite being the subject of serious criminal allegations on multiple occasions.
“Had these matters been progressed appropriately, Carrick may have potentially faced gross misconduct proceedings and been dismissed from the force well before he was eventually arrested.
“Four officers and a member of police staff will now face disciplinary proceedings, including one officer who will face a gross misconduct hearing, while two more former officers would have faced disciplinary meetings had they not retired from the force.”
