The UK judiciary sentenced former London Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick to life imprisonment on Tuesday after he was found guilty of carrying out dozens of rapes while he was an officer, a job he held until mid-January.
The 48-year-old man was convicted of using his position as a police officer to carry out a «campaign of terror» against women for 17 years. A judge has ruled that he will have to spend at least 32 years in prison before he can even be considered for release.
Judge Cheema Grubb has noted that the defendant behaved for decades «as if he was untouchable.» «For years you were proven right,» she has lamented before speaking of a «monstrous abuse of power» on his part, which gave him an «exceptional power of control.» She has also accused him of «betraying his oath to protect the population».
Carrick had admitted his guilt in relation to 85 crimes including sexual assaults and rapes, among others. In total, it is estimated that he assaulted 12 women between 2003 and 2020 when he worked as a policeman, according to information from the newspaper ‘The Guardian’.
The police force has now indicated that «he should never have been an officer» given the complaints made by women, although it «failed to understand the danger he posed» to them.
The case has led the British Prime Minister himself, Rishi Sunak, to promise reforms to prevent a recurrence. Together with the head of Scotland Yard, Mark Rowley, Sunak has pledged to take measures to prevent «absolutely despicable» cases like Carrick’s from happening again, and to ensure that people like him have «nowhere to hide».
In that regard, he has called on the Police to address the failures that have been committed to restore «trust among the public,» and especially among women and girls. «The abuse of power that we have seen is absolutely despicable and must be addressed immediately,» he stressed.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
