The Attorney General’s Office has received ‘multiple requests’ to appeal the ‘unduly lenient’ sentence prolific rapist David Carrick was handed down today.
Sentencing judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said he had behaved as if he was ‘untouchable’ as she handed down 36 life sentences.
The violent rapist, who had pleaded guilty to 49 offences over 17 years as a police officer, will serve at least 32 years in prison but campaigners are calling for a whole life sentence.
The head of the Met, Sir Mark Rowley, said after sentencing that Carrick ‘should not have been a police officer’ and that policing had ‘failed’.
Carrick joins the likes of John Warboys and Reynhard Sinaga, Britain’s most prolific rapist, after taking ‘monstrous advantage’ of his victims.
Some of his victims had bravely attended Southwark Crown Court to watch Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb (pictured) sentencing the 48-year-old from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, on Tuesday
Former Met Police officer David Carrick pictured in court as details of some of his horrific crimes emerged including how he used ‘power and control’ to carry out ‘violent and brutal’ sex attacks
A spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office said it has received ‘multiple requests under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme’ following the sentence of at least 32 years that was handed to David Carrick.
In a statement, the spokeswoman said: ‘The appalling and brutal nature of Carrick’s crimes against multiple women have been horrific to hear and we note the life sentence with a minimum term of 32 years, less time served, handed down to him today.
‘We can confirm we have received multiple requests relating to David Carrick’s sentence under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) Scheme, the case will of course be considered for referral to the Court of Appeal.
‘The ULS allows prosecutors, victims of crime and their families, and members of the public to ask for certain crown court sentences to be reviewed by the law officers if they think the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range of sentences reasonably available in circumstances of the offence.
‘The law officers have 28 days from the date of sentencing to refer a case to the Court of Appeal.’
Following his sentencing, the Home Secretary Suella Braverman branded his crimes a ‘scar on our police’.
Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: ‘David Carrick’s crimes were unspeakably evil. The detail is harrowing.
‘He subjected these victims and survivors to the most degrading and inhumane treatment and yet they still showed the courage to come forward and to provide the evidence that led to his conviction.’
The Metropolitan Police have been ‘too weak’ in rooting out rogue officers, Sir Mark Rowley added.
He said: ‘Most of our people are great people but we have been too weak in getting rid of the ones who aren’t.
‘I know my words today aren’t enough.’
Speaking after his sentencing, DCI Iain Moor of Bedfordshire, Cambridge and Hertfordshire major crime unit, said that he was ‘extremely relieved’ that a ‘serious and prolific sex offender is now going to be behind bars for a very long time’.
He added: ‘David Carrick has brought same on the profession and was not fit to wear the uniform.’
The 48-year-old pleaded guilty to 49 charges, but some were multiple-incident counts, meaning they relate to at least 85 separate offences, including at least 71 sexual offences and 48 rapes.
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the force had been ‘too weak’ in rooting out sexual offenders
He will serve at least 30 years and 239 days from his sentencing date after Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb compared his case to those of sex monsters Joseph McCann and Reynhard Sinaga – Britain’s most prolific rapist.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said Carrick’s case was of the ‘utmost gravity’ but did not meet the ‘wholly exceptional circumstances’ test to merit a while life sentence.
But she disagreed with defence barrister Alisdair Williamson KC, who said his client’s offending did not reach the ‘extreme limits’ found in the cases of McCann and Sinaga.
She told Carrick that he ‘behaved as if you were untouchable’, adding it was a ‘spectacular downfall for a man charged with upholding the law’ having lost his liberty, job and status.
‘Your offending was over 17 years and encompassed 12 victims,’ she told Carrick.
‘Moreover, the singular element which elevates your offending as a brutal serial rapist into that company is the principal aggravating feature of the explicit or implicit use of your occupation to entice, reassure, or intimidate your victims.’
Carrick was also slammed by the judge for taking ‘monstrous advantage of his victims’ while serving as a Metropolitan Police officer for more than 20 years.
At least five of Carrick’s victims bravely attended Southwark Crown Court to watch as their attacker was jailed for a minimum of 30 years and 239 days in prison before being considered for parole.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb highlighted their courage and told the defendant: ‘These women are not weak or ineffectual. They were victims of your criminal mindset.
‘The malign influence of men like you in positions of power stands in the way of a revolution of women’s dignity.
‘It is remarkable that with one woman being driven to report an allegation against you, despite your position and power, others felt able to act.
‘Even today, courage calls to courage everywhere and its voice cannot be denied.’
Yesterday, victim impact statements were read out in court, including one woman who said she had ‘encountered evil’ on the night she was repeatedly raped by Carrick, after pointing a black handgun at her head and putting his hands around her throat.
The serial rapist had boasted to the victim that ‘I am the safest person you can be around, I’m a police officer’ in order to get her back to his London flat.
Another said she was convinced because of his position as a diplomatic and parliamentary protection officer she would be not be believed if she reported him, saying she had had it drilled into her ‘he was the police, he was the law and he owned me’.
Upsetting photographs showing the cupboard under the stairs where he locked one woman naked as a form of punishment, a black whip he used and surveillance cameras to spy on victims were released.
The disgraced former firearms officer wore a dark suit, white shirt and tie as he appeared in the dock in front of a packed courtroom at a hearing that was televised.
He was silent and impassive as his sentence was handed down.
The 49 charges admitted by Carrick include 24 counts of rape, nine counts of sexual assault, five counts of assault by penetration, three counts of coercive and controlling behaviour, three counts of false imprisonment, two counts of attempted rape, one count of attempted sexual assault by penetration, one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and one count of indecent assault.
The justice revealed that the offender had attempted to take his own life while in prison and that prison authorities believed he was suffering from a severe depression.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told him: ‘You were driven to try to commit suicide as a self-pitying reaction to the shame brought on you by these proceedings rather than remorse.’
The court heard how Carrick had alleged to a probation officer he had suffered ‘childhood trauma’, including growing up with parents ‘who drank to excess’ and being abused by his stepfather.
The former Met Police officer, pictured here in uniform and holding a gun, abused a dozen women over the course of nearly 20 years
Images were released for the first time showing a tiny cupboard that Carrick locked one of the woman in as a form of punishment, as well as a whip he used on the victim
Images were released for the first time showing a tiny cupboard that Carrick locked one of the woman in as a form of punishment, as well as a whip he used on the victim
Carrick set up surveillance cameras which he used to monitor some of his victims at his home
On Monday, the court heard harrowing accounts of abuse, sexual assault, rape, false imprisonment and coercive control.
Carrick used cameras he installed at home to monitor women while he was at work.
He made another woman choke on her vomit, assaulted one with a sex toy and urinated on one of his victims.
The armed officer tortured and abused women for 17 years despite coming to police attention nine times before his arrest and developing the nickname ‘B*****d Dave’ at work.
He called women ‘fat and lazy’ and treated them like as his ‘sex slaves’ as well as controlled them financially.
Victims were isolated from their family and forbidden from speaking with other men.
He also used his police baton as a threat and handcuffs in an attack.
Carrick’s crimes were all carried out while serving with the force – he guarded sites including embassies and the Houses of Parliament, and completed training courses, including one on domestic abuse in 2005.
He was eventually arrested in October 2021 but was released and not suspended from police duties before being apprehended again later that month.
The Met was forced to apologise and admit Carrick should have been rooted out earlier after it emerged he came to police attention over nine incidents – including allegations of rape, domestic violence and harassment – between 2000 and 2021, with all but one of the incidents relating to his behaviour towards women.
Carrick faced no criminal sanctions or misconduct findings and police chiefs across England and Wales have since been asked to have all officers checked against national police databases by the end of March.
He was finally sacked from the force last month after pleading guilty and being unmasked as one of the country’s most prolific sex offenders.
Carrick’s crimes are set to form part of the independent inquiry looking at the murder of Sarah Everard, who was raped and strangled by then-serving Met officer Wayne Couzens in March 2021.
This is the moment serial rapist David Carrick was arrested by police on suspicion of raping a woman at a hotel, sparking a major investigation which unmasked him as one of Britain’s worst sex offenders
Reynhard Sinaga is Britain’s most prolific rapist and was handed a life sentence with a minimum of 30 years in 2020
Carrick now joins the ranks of Britain’s worst sex offenders and will now spend at least 30 years and 239 days in prison.
The justice compared his case to the actions of Joseph McCann and Reynhard Sinaga, some of the most prolific sex offenders in the country.
Joseph McCann, 37, was given 33 life sentences at the Old Bailey in 2019 for a string of sex attacks on 11 women and children – one aged 11 – during a 15-day cocaine and vodka-fuelled rampage.
Reynhard Sinaga, 39, was handed a life sentence with a minimum 30-year term at Manchester Crown Court in 2020 after being convicted of more than 150 offences, including 136 counts of rape, committed against 48 men – although police have linked him to more than 190 potential victims.
Earlier this year, the Attorney General’s Office referred the 30-year minimum jail terms handed to McCann and Sinaga to the Court of Appeal as ‘unduly lenient’.
A panel of five judges refused to impose whole life sentences on the two men but increased their minimum sentences to 40 years.
Joseph McCann is serving at least 40 years behind bars for a string of sex attacks on 11 women and children – one aged 11 – during a 15-day cocaine and vodka-fuelled rampage
Police believe black cab rapist John Worboys committed sex offences against more than 100 women before he was caught
Other notorious sex offenders include black cab rapist John Worboys, Night Stalker Delroy Grant, and paedophile Richard Huckle.
Worboys, 65, was jailed for life with a minimum term of six years at the Old Bailey in December 2019 after he admitted spiking the drinks of four women.
He was already behind bars at the time, having been locked up indefinitely for public protection with a minimum term of eight years in 2009, after he was found guilty of 19 sex offences against 12 women between 2006 and 2008.
But police believe the former male stripper committed offences against more than 100 women before he was caught.
Grant, 66, was warned he may die in prison when he was sentenced in 2011 after being told he must spend at least 27 years behind bars for burgling and raping vulnerable pensioners in a 17-year reign of terror.
The former minicab driver was found guilty of preying on 18 elderly women and men.
And Huckle, one of Britain’s worst paedophiles, was handed 22 life sentences with a minimum term of 25 years in 2016, after he abused up to 200 Malaysian children, some as young as six months, before he was murdered in prison in 2019.
