Content warning – this article mentions details of physical and sexual abuse
A UK judge on Tuesday sentenced a former policeman to life in jail. David Carrick was given a minimum term of 30 years for dozens of rapes and sexual assaults, as reported Agence France-Presse (AFP). This is the latest case to shame London’s Metropolitan Police force.
Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb handed Carrick 36 life sentences for a “monstrous” string of 71 sexual offences against 12 women. She said Carrick, whose crimes included 48 rapes, represented a “grave danger to women” which would “last indefinitely”. Carrick was a long-serving officer with the Met, and will serve three decades behind bars before he can be considered for parole.
Cheema-Grubb said Carrick had “brazenly raped and sexually assaulted” his victims, believing himself to be “untouchable” due to his position, which afforded him “exceptional powers to coerce and control”. Only a sentence of life imprisonment could reflect “the gravity” of his crimes, she said.
Abuse of power
Anger and distrust towards the police has mounted since the murder of Sarah Everard. Former police officer Wayne Couzens was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in jail for Everard’s murder. Carrick and Couzens served in the same armed unit protecting MPs and foreign diplomats. The Canary’s Sophia Purdy-Moore explained how Couzens used his status as a police officer to trick Everard:
The court heard that Couzens – who was a serving Met Police officer at the time – handcuffed and falsely arrested Everard on 3 March in Clapham. Couzens showed Everard his warrant card before restraining her. Someone witnessed the off-duty officer handcuffing Everard and leading her to his car. They assumed that the young woman “must have done something wrong”.
Since the crimes of Carrick and Couzens were uncovered, a string of other cases involving police officers have also come to light. In fact, just as Carrick was being sentenced, the Met announced that another serving officer had been charged with rape and assault. In the latest case, police constable Hussain Chehab admitted to “four counts of sexual activity with a girl aged 13 to 15, three counts of making indecent photographs of a child, and sexual communication with a child”. A court was told that Chehab had even served as a school liaison officer during his time on the force.
The force admitted that, on average, two to three officers faced criminal charges in court every week. On Monday, prosecutor Tom Little told Southwark Crown Court in South London that Carrick used his police officer status to initially reassure women and begin relationships. He then subjected them to “a catalogue of violent and brutal sexual offences”. The officer often humiliated the women, including locking them naked in a small cupboard, urinating on them, and whipping them.
Carrick doesn’t fall far from the tree
The police had records of multiple complaints and allegations involving Carrick’s behaviour. However, he never faced a disciplinary hearing. The Met only sacked him last month after he pleaded guilty in court. The force has since apologised for failing to act on the prior allegations levelled against Carrick. Met commissioner Mark Rowley on Tuesday described Carrick’s crimes as “unspeakably evil” and admitted:
He should not have been a police officer.
We weren’t rigorous enough in our approach and as a result we missed opportunities to identify the warning signs over decades.
Last month, campaigners dumped a basket of 1,071 rotten apples outside the force’s headquarters. The number was a symbol of how many officers the Met says have been or are being investigated over allegations of domestic abuse and violence against women and girls. Ruth Davison – head of the domestic abuse charity Refuge, which organised the protest – told AFP:
We’ve been told time and time again that it’s just one bad apple here and there, but this is actually a fundamental problem right across policing. It has to be called out now because women’s lives are at risk.
Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Channel 4 News
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
