Almost 20 years after being sexually assaulted by the “monster” David Carrick, a Metropolitan Police officer believes the criminal “must to pay” for his actions.
The victim, who will only be identified as Michelle for privacy reasons, claims she was reluctant to disclose the assault due to the “male-dominated ethos” of the police.
In a workplace that was “a little Life on Mars,” she was afraid of being known as the college who “alleges rape”—a reference to the BBC One program about police work in the 1970s.
Carrick, a former Met officer and one of Britain’s most frequent sex offenders, will likely serve time in prison for assaulting 12 women over an 18-year span. Today is the first day of his two-day sentence at Southwark Crown Court.
He has confessed to charges of sexual assault, using forceful or controlling behavior, and wrongful imprisonment in addition to 24 counts of rape. His “really awful” behavior compelled the Met to apologize.
The Met’s culture at the time—and for a while after—was heavily skewed toward men. In an interview with the BBC that was released this morning, Michelle said, “It felt a little like Life on Mars.
She described how Carrick, 48, sexually assaulted her in 2004, but she chose not to inform her coworkers because of a setting at work that seemed to sexualize women.
She reported how male officers would mark “different portions of the body” on female officers with a rubber stamp that read “Property of the Met.”
Michelle said that most cops “simply went along with it” and that the stamping was done in a “laughing, joking fashion.”
She added that it seemed like male cops hazed the female officers.
They were driven to blue-light calls, according to Michelle, who recalls once being locked in a police car’s boot “for half a shift as a joke.”
She told the station, “That’s what they did to a lot of the girls when they joined.”
Michelle described her rape as a “terrible event” that fundamentally altered her life and left her unable to trust or have a meaningful relationship with males.
She has indicated that she would be there when Carrick is sentenced, telling the BBC that he has spent many years acting in an inappropriate manner and being a monster. He is a monster, and he must now make amends.
Carrick is scheduled to appear in court today, and throughout the two-day sentencing hearing, Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray promised that further information about his “cruel and abusive” offenses will be revealed.
Prior to joining the Met, Carrick served in the Army. He pleaded guilty to 49 criminal crimes, but some of them are multiple event counts, which means they pertain to more than 80 sexual offenses, including at least 48 rapes of 12 women.
In addition, he will get a term for three charges of false imprisonment, five counts of penetrating assault, three counts of coercive and controlling behavior, and nine counts of sexual assault.
Two charges of attempted rape, one count of attempted sexual assault by penetration, one count of inducing a person to engage in sexual activity without permission, and one case of indecent assault are among the other offenses committed by Carrick.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised police changes in response to the issue when it came to light that the force had been told of nine occurrences between 2000 and 2021, including claims of rape, domestic violence, and harassment.
Carrick, a police officer since 2001 who later became an armed officer with the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command in 2009, was cleared of any criminal charges or allegations of wrongdoing.
Since then, all officers must be verified against national police databases by the end of March, according to a request made to police chiefs in England and Wales.
The inquiry was sparked by the claim of a 13th lady, which he disputed in September 2020. The Crown Prosecution Service determined it was not in the public interest to go through with the trial on the charge.
On September 4, 2020, Carrick introduced himself as “Bastard Dave,” a weapons officer, gave her his warrant card, and bragged of meeting renowned individuals via his line of work, including the then-prime minister Boris Johnson, a court previously heard.
Darciane Nunes Da Silva, the first victim of his to divulge her identify, said last week in the Sunday People that she wants Carrick to serve the next 40 years in prison.
The independent investigation into Sarah Everard’s murder, who was raped and strangled to death by then-serving Met officer Wayne Couzens in March 2021, is expected to include Carrick’s crimes.
The Met’s deputy commissioner apologized to Carrick’s victims once again on Sunday, saying the department had “failed them down” and that the sex offender “should not have been a police officer.”
I am really sorry for the hurt and destruction he has brought them, Ms. Gray stated in a statement.
We let them down by failing to find a member of the Metropolitan Police Service who committed the most heinous crimes.
He wasn’t supposed to be a police officer.
In the weeks after his guilty plea, Ms. Gray said, “We have talked about our sincere and urgent resolve to fix the systemic flaws that have been shown by our own reviews, by those of His Majesty’s Inspectorate, and by those of Baroness Casey.”
“We are committed to eliminating those who undermine our integrity.” The job has already begun.
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