An “evil” police officer who was unmasked as one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders has been jailed for at least 30 years after being handed 36 life sentences.

David Carrick carried out a “catalogue of violent and brutal sexual offences” against 12 women over nearly two decades while serving with the Metropolitan Police.

A judge said the disgraced PC acted like he was “untouchable” and used his job to take “monstrous advantage of women”.

Read updates from court as they happened

After Carrick was jailed, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said his crimes were “a scar on our police”, while the head of the Met Police admitted the force had “let down women”.

Carrick had pleaded guilty to 49 charges – including 24 counts of rape – covering a total of 85 offences.

Victims described in court how they were raped, controlled and degraded by the officer, who they feared was too “powerful” to be reported for his crimes.

The 48-year-old showed no emotion as he was sentenced at London’s Southwark Crown Court, and was sitting in the dock for much of the hearing with his eyes closed and head bowed.

After the jail term was announced, the Attorney General’s Office confirmed it had received “multiple requests” under the unduly lenient sentence scheme and the case will be considered for referral to the Court of Appeal.

The Centre for Women’s Justice said it was exploring potential legal action against the Met with some of Carrick’s victims.

During the sentencing hearing, it emerged that Carrick tried to kill himself while on remand in prison – with the judge saying this was a “self-pitying reaction” to the “shame” he felt from the court proceedings against him.

The judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, said Carrick’s convictions “represent a spectacular downfall for a man who was authorised to uphold the law”.

The officer was involved in “brutal, controlling and coercive relationships” and “brazenly raped and sexually assaulted many women”, the judge added.

She told Carrick: “You behaved as if you were untouchable.

“The malign influence of men like you in positions of power stands in the way of a revolution of women’s dignity.”

The judge said Carrick poses a “high risk of causing serious sexual and physical harm” to the public.

“I’m sure you present a grave danger to women who might be persuaded to be alone with you,” she added.

Rapist officer’s ‘childhood trauma’

The court heard how Carrick had spoken to a probation officer about suffering “childhood trauma”.

Carrick grew up with parents “who drank to excess” and he had told of being abused by his stepfather, the judge said.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told Carrick he now faces “the prospect of a difficult time in custody for many years” but ruled out a whole-life order, despite the “upmost seriousness” of the offending.

A whole-life order would have meant he would never have been eligible for parole. Carrick’s sentence means he cannot apply for parole until he has served at least 30 years in prison.

Carrick’s case is the latest in a spate of scandals at the Met Police, including the murder of Sarah Everard by then-serving officer Wayne Couzens.

The force was forced to apologise and admit Carrick should have been rooted out earlier after it emerged he came to police attention over nine incidents before he was prosecuted. They included allegations of rape, domestic violence and harassment between 2000 and 2021.

All of Carrick’s admitted crimes occurred while he was working for the Met Police.

Known by colleagues as “Bastard Dave”, he joined the force in 2001 before becoming an armed officer with the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command in 2009, guarding the Houses of Parliament and embassy sites.

Carrick, from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, was sacked by the Met Police after his guilty pleas.

Following the sentencing, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley 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.”

Sir Mark said the Met is “truly sorry”, adding: “We have let down women across London but we are more determined than ever to put it right.”

Officer whipped and urinated on victims

Over a two-day sentencing hearing, the court heard that Carrick held a gun to a woman’s head before repeatedly raping her and threatened to use his police baton on another victim.

Some women were urinated on, locked naked in a cupboard under the stairs in Carrick’s home, whipped and watched remotely through cameras while he was at work.

He also sent a victim a photograph of himself with a work-issue gun, saying: “Remember I am the boss.”

Read more:
Police officer tells of rape by David Carrick
Timeline of missed opportunities to stop rapist police officer

Prosecutor Tom Little KC said: “The reality was that it did not matter who the victim was … he would rape them, sexually abuse or assault them and humiliate them.”

The court heard one victim – Darciane Nunes Da Silva – who was raped and sexually assaulted by Carrick had waived her right to anonymity.

In a series of victim impact statements read by the prosecutor, women spoke of the trauma they had suffered from Carrick’s crimes – including some who were left suicidal – and how the case had damaged their trust in police.

Carrick told victim: ‘I am the law’

One woman said: “I don’t trust the police any more. If anything went wrong I don’t know whether I would want to call the police as I’d worry that they would send a male officer like him.

“The thought of being alone with a male officer makes me very anxious.”

Another victim said she had been “too frightened” to report Carrick’s crimes after he told her “he was the police, he was the law, and he owned me”.

Meanwhile, the woman who was raped in Carrick’s home after he pointed a gun at her head said she felt she had “encountered evil”.

“I honestly thought he was going to kill me that night,” she added.

The court heard Carrick relied on his “charm” to “beguile and mislead” his victims, then used his “power and control” to stop them leaving or reporting him.

‘He cannot ask for mercy’

One victim described the police constable as “acting like a monster” and said he would call her “his slave”, asking her to take her clothes off while cleaning his house.

Carrick told another victim he would pay her £1,000 a month to be his “slut”, the court heard.

One woman, who was repeatedly raped by Carrick, told a friend that “nobody would believe her” if she reported the attacks because he “was a police officer and very powerful”.

Alisdair Williamson KC, defending, said Carrick “accepts full responsibility for what he has done”.

He pointed out that one victim had noted that “something had profoundly damaged this man”, saying Carrick was “testament” to how “the abused” can become “the abuser”.

“He cannot ask for mercy and does not,” the barrister said.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the case “shocking and appalling” and confirmed the government is planning to take steps to strip Carrick of his police pension.