David Carrick, who committed a string of sex offences including rape as well as coercive and controlling behaviour during his 17 years as a serving Metropolitan police officer, has been jailed for at least 30 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was ridiculed, teased and shamed,\u201d one of his victim-survivors was quoted as saying by the Guardian<\/em> newspaper. \u201cI was told what to wear; what I could eat and what amounts. I was instructed to walk behind, not beside or in front.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cI was too frightened to go to the police to lodge a complaint as the defendant had drilled it into me that \u2018he was the police; he was the law; and he owned me\u2019. I was convinced the police would not believe me and would not investigate my complaint. I was terrified of making myself a target, so I remained silent.\u201d<\/p>\n The woman was subjected to coercive and controlling behaviour, false imprisonment, rape and sexual assault. Looking back, she said: \u201cIt has taken me a long time to forgive myself for getting involved with the defendant in the first place \u2026 The negative impact from this experience is not going to define me but will instead shape me to be a better, stronger version of me.\u201d<\/p>\n Another victim-survivor said: \u201cHe controlled almost every aspect of my life, from what I was allowed to eat, what weight he thought I should be and how much exercise he expected me to do. If I didn\u2019t do as he requested, he would make me feel ungrateful, unappreciative, and call me obnoxious.\u201d<\/p>\n He limited her involvement with friends and family and relationships. \u201cHe was eliminating my support network slowly but surely until I lost contact with everyone I cared about and then he started to push my daughter away by not involving her in plans or arrangements. My daughter was only young at the time, and still is, but I know it has ruined our relationship \u2026 The impact on my young daughter has been debilitating to her at times \u2026 She is still experiencing nightmares.\u201d The woman eventually lost the roof over her head. \u201cThe hardest things about being homeless was the fact that my daughter had to be homeless as well. She also needed to pay the price for my stupidity and naivety. I had to sign up to benefits. I had to turn to the food bank to feed myself and my daughter. My daughter started to self-harm.\u201d<\/p>\n In sentencing Carrick to a minimum of 30 years and 239 days in jail, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said he had taken monstrous advantage of his position as a police officer, which gave him exceptional powers to coerce and control. He had also betrayed his oath to protect the public.<\/p>\n In all, he attacked 12 women between 2003 and 2020 during which time, in 2009, he became an armed officer with Metropolitan Police\u2019s parliamentary and diplomatic protection team. Among training courses Carrick took was one in 2005 on domestic abuse and violence, prosecutor Tom Little was reported as telling the sentencing hearing at Southwark crown court.<\/p>\n \u201cHe frequently relied on his charm to beguile and mislead the victims in the first place and would then use his power and control, in part because of what he did for a living, to stop them leaving or consider reporting him. He was no doubt aware that they would conclude they would be unlikely to be believed if they were to come forward on their own and claim that a Metropolitan Police officer had raped them,\u201d Little said.<\/p>\n The court heard Carrick was allowed to remain in the Met, despite police recording nine incidents including rape and violent assault, because he was never prosecuted. Scotland Yard decided he had no case to answer.<\/p>\n He was sacked from the force last month while awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to 49 offences including 24 rapes and charges of controlling and coercive behaviour.<\/p>\n