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Southwark Crown Court in London: protests outside the courthouse
Photo: Victoria Jones / dpa
A London police officer has been sentenced to life in prison for raping and sexually assaulting several women.
The 48-year-old must spend at least 30 years behind bars before he can be conditionally released, a court in the British capital ruled on Tuesday.
David Carrick pleaded guilty to the rape, abuse and deprivation of liberty of 12 women between 2003 and 2020.
Accordingly, the police officer, who was responsible for the protection of the British Parliament, among other things, repeatedly abused his position and his service card to control and intimidate his victims.
He is said to have repeatedly humiliated women by locking them naked in a tiny chamber or urinating on them.
The abused are severely traumatized, but they wanted to make their voices heard in the process.
"That night I felt that I had met evil," one of the women said in a statement.
Another felt like a "piece of dirt on his shoe."
"He was a policeman, how could he be mistrusted?"
Carrick was charged with 49 counts of rape, sexual assault and false imprisonment.
He has confessed to more than 80 individual acts against twelve women.
However, investigators assume that there are more victims.
Although the crime period stretches over 17 years, from 2003 to 2020, there is a gap of several years in which there are no reports.
The victims were mostly portrayed as vulnerable women, some younger, others much older.
The 48-year-old man is said to have manipulated, intimidated and put pressure on her.
His status as a police officer with an ID card and – later – with a weapon also helped him.
That's how several women described it, and that's how the prosecution saw it.
"He was a policeman, how could he be mistrusted?" asked one of the women.
Another reported that she went to the hospital after the rape.
When she said who her tormentor was there, a nurse just waved her hand.
"The judiciary protects its own people," she said.
The case sparked outrage across the country.
It commemorates the March 2021 killing of Sarah Everard, who was kidnapped by a London police officer using his ID card and later raped and murdered.
The Metropolitan Police has been under criticism for a long time anyway.
Again and again there are scandals about criminal and corrupt officials and employees.
New police chief Mark Rowley has promised a crackdown.
Investigations against hundreds of employees are to be rolled out again.
The Ministry of the Interior has instructed the police in the country to look for problem cases in their own ranks.
There are "too many examples of misogyny and sexism," said Labor MP Nick Smith on Monday.
wit/dpa
