Ten police officers are facing misconduct investigations over the handling of allegations against serial rapist David Carrick.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) launched a series of probes in July after Carrick, a long-standing PC in the Met, admitted 85 offences including rape, sexual assault, and controlling and coercive behaviour.
The disgraced officer was jailed for life with a minimum term of 32 years for the horrific campaign of terror and abuse against 12 different women.
His offending stretched across his 17-year policing career, in which he operated as a specialist firearms officer within the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection team.
The IOPC has been investigating failures by the Met to investigate allegations about Carrick’s behaviour in 2002, 2016, 2019 and 2021.
On Wednesday, it announced that five serving Met officers - a detective constable, detective sergeant, detective inspector and two chief inspectors - are being investigated for gross misconduct.
A former Met officer now at City of London police and two retired Met officers- a former PC and an ex-superintendent – are also suspected of gross misconduct, while a serving Met staff member and a PC are under investigation for misconduct.
It is suspected the officers “failed in their duty to adequately explore, investigate, supervise or oversee investigations into allegations made against David Carrick while he was a serving police officer”, said the IOPC.
In her sentencing remarks to Carrick, Mrs Justice Cheema Grubb said the 48-year-old had acted like he was "untouchable" when subjecting women to violent and degrading attacks.
“Behind a public appearance of propriety and trustworthiness you took monstrous advantage of women,” she said.
“You brazenly raped and sexually assaulted a number of women, some you barely knew, and you behaved as if you were untouchable.
“You were bold and at times relentless, trusting that no victim would overcome her shame and fear to report you. For nearly two decades, you were proved rightAfter his convictions, the Met Police apologised for failing to root out Carrick - who had the nickname "Bastard Dave" among colleagues - despite nine separate incidents when he had come to police attention.
Complaints included allegations of rape, domestic violence and harassment, but he faced no criminal sanctions or misconduct findings.
“Our thoughts remain with all the women who were victims of David Carrick and reported this offending”, said IOPC regional director Mel Palmer said.
“After carrying out an initial scoping review of police handling of allegations against Carrick earlier this year, we made the decision to launch investigations into multiple alleged failings of police officers and staff who assessed and/or investigated allegations made against him.
“If these matters had been adequately progressed, Carrick could potentially have faced gross misconduct proceedings and been dismissed from the police service years before he was eventually arrested.
“While we’ve notified a number of officers that they are under investigation, this does not mean that disciplinary proceedings will automatically follow. At the end of each investigation, we will determine whether any individuals should face disciplinary proceedings.
“From our scoping review, we’ve also identified a number of learning opportunities for individual forces as well as national recommendations which we are currently progressing.”
The body also revealed that two police officers are also under investigation over claims Wiltshire Police failed to properly investigate a report against Carrick in 2016. A PC and an inspector at the force have been served with gross misconduct notices.
