Former Met Police officer David Carrick given additional life sentence over sex offences

Former Met Police officer and serial rapist David Carrick has been handed his 37th life sentence after he was found guilty of more sex offences.

Carrick was sentenced at the Old Bailey after being convicted of molesting a 12-year-old girl and raping a former partner.

The 50-year-old was convicted of five counts of indecent assault, two counts of rape, one of sexual assault and one of controlling or coercive behaviour.

On Thursday, Mrs Justice McGowan handed Carrick another life sentence with a minimum term of 30 years to run concurrently.

The ex-armed officer was already serving 36 life sentences after being unmasked as one of the UK's worst sex offenders when he admitted crimes against 12 women over 17 years.

In 2023, he was sentenced to a minimum term of 32 years in a case that caused widespread public anger after it emerged that repeated opportunities to stop his offending had been missed while he was serving as a police officer.

In his latest trial, he was found guilty at the Old Bailey of five counts of indecent assault against a 12-year-old girl in the late 1980s when he was a teenager.

In addition, he was convicted of raping a woman during the course of a toxic relationship more than 20 years later. He had denied the fresh allegations.

Sentencing, Mrs Justice McGowan recognised the "courage and resilience" of the victims.

She also noted Carrick's "cynical willingness" for the two women to be forced to give evidence in court due to his continued denial of wrongdoing.

On the sexual assaults on a child when Carrick was aged 14 or 15, the judge said: "They were the first examples to come to light of your disposition to commit predatory sexual crimes."

She added: "I have no doubt that you are dangerous and the life sentences on an earlier occasion are fully merited."

During the trial, jurors heard how Carrick confessed in a letter which was recovered from his medical records and signed "Dave".

In it, Carrick wrote that the girl was "not crazy" and that it was "true", but that he had stopped about four months previously.

In statements read to the court, the victims described the ongoing trauma from Carrick's abuse.

The woman who was molested as a child had difficulty trusting people and forming relationships, the court was told.

She said: "The public revelations of David's actions caused me to relive my trauma which severely impacted my mental health.

"I do not believe David has any remorse for his actions. He tries to blame his past home life for what he has done."

The woman who was raped by Carrick said in her statement that at first she found him "charming" but during their relationship he became controlling.

She said Carrick had "ruined" her life and tainted her views on sex and relationships.

"I did not get the chance to learn love in the way most people do - I learned survival instead. I fight through fear, through memories, through the exhaustion trauma leaves behind," she said.

When interviewed in Full Sutton prison in Yorkshire, Carrick claimed that sex with the woman was consensual and accused her of being motivated by the MeToo movement.

Despite his written confession, he dismissed the historic child abuse allegations, claiming the girl was a liar.

Following the verdicts, senior Crown prosecutor Shilpa Shah described Carrick as "a manipulative, controlling and abusive man".

"He was aggressive, abusive, violent, and yet he appeared to be charming and charismatic. He didn't count on his victims coming forward and exposing him as they have, and I'd like to thank them for doing so," she said.

Detective Superintendent Iain Moor, of Hertfordshire Constabulary, said he was pleased to have been able to get justice for the victims and urged other victims to come forward.

Carrick joined the Met Police in 2001 before becoming an armed officer in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection unit in 2009.

(c) Sky News 2025: Former Met Police officer David Carrick given additional life sentence over sex offences