'Dangerous' sexual predator David Carrick jailed for life after being found guilty of more sex offences

More than two decades later, he repeatedly raped a woman where she was subjected to "degrading and humiliating" abuse during the course of their toxic relationship.

The offences came after he pleaded guilty in 2022 and 2023 to 71 sexual offences, including 48 rapes against 12 other women over a 17-year period.

Carrick was handed 36 life sentences in 2023 with a minimum term of 32 years.

He denied fresh allegations but declined to give evidence in his trial at the Old Bailey.

The former police officer was found guilty of two rape charges, one of sexual assault and coercive and controlling behaviour towards the woman between 2014 and 2019.

Carrick was found guilty of five counts of indecent assault relating to the girl in the late 1980s.

In sentencing Carrick, Mrs Justice McGowan acknowledged the "courage and resilience" of the victims.

Justice McGowan noted the former police officer's "cynical willingness" to force the two women to give evidence in court because of his continued denial of wrongdoing.

Referencing the sexual assaults of a child when Carrick was aged 14 or 15, the judge said: "They were the first examples to come to light of your disposition to commit predatory sexual crimes".

"I have no doubt that you are dangerous and the life sentences on an earlier occasion are fully merited," Mrs McGowan added.

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In statements heard by the court, the victims described the ongoing trauma from Carrick's abuse and the lifelong impact his actions had on their lives.

The woman, molested as a child, said she had difficult trusting people and forming relationships, the court heard.

"The public revelations of David's actions caused me to relive my trauma which severely impacted my mental health," she said.

"“I do not believe David has any remorse for his actions. He tries to blame his past home life for what he has done.

"Although his actions and the depravity are now known the impact on my life is far from over.”

The woman raped during a relationship with Carrick described the feeling of viewing herself through a “looking glass”.

She grieved the life she could have had, saying: "I did not get the chance to learn love in the way most people do - I learned survival instead".

“I fight through fear, through memories, through the exhaustion trauma leaves behind.”

Jurors heard during the trial that Carrick abused a young girl for about 18 months before she told her mother.

He confessed in a letter which was recovered from his medical records and signed “Dave” and in it, he said the girl was "not crazy" and it was "true", but he had stopped four months earlier.

"When I heard he was a Metropolitan Police officer, the words I have always used were: ‘God help anyone with him with a warrant card’," the victim said.

The second victim met Carrick through a dating website and was aware from the start he was a police officer and early on she found him "charming" but over the course of the relationship he became controlling and raped her multiple times.

After the verdicts, senior Crown prosecutor Shilpa Shah said: “I would describe David Carrick as a manipulative, controlling and abusive man who created a facade for the rest of the world so that no-one would realise what he was doing behind closed doors.

“He was aggressive, abusive, violent, and yet he appeared to be charming and charismatic. He didn’t count on his victims coming forward and exposing him as they have, and I’d like to thank them for doing so.”