London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Monster in the Met: Profile of serial rapist PC David Carrick who hid in plain sight

Monster in the Met: Profile of serial rapist PC David Carrick who hid in plain sight

Carrick used his ‘monstrous side’ to control women. ‘It was a pattern he was very, very good at’, says one senior officer

PC David Carrick is one of Britain’s worst ever rapists, responsible for a horrific catalogue of crimes against women while hiding in plain sight in an elite unit of the Metropolitan Police.

The 48-year-old had a string of run-ins with the law over claims of harassing and abusing women in his private life and he attracted the unenviable nickname ‘Bastard Dave’ at work, reportedly for his cruel and mean behaviour.

Yet red flags about the PC’s character were missed and – unchecked - Carrick committed an appalling list of sexual and violent crimes against 12 women.

Evidence heard in court suggests that Carrick was proud of his unpleasant nickname and used his police job as a weapon, initially to charm women and later to stop them from reporting the attacks.

DCI Andrea Dalton, a lead detective at Hertfordshire Police for domestic abuse and safeguarding, said Carrick used his “monstrous side” to control women.
“It was a pattern he was very, very good at”, she said.

David Carrick joined the Met’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command in 2009


Carrick spent a year serving in the Army between 1996 and 1997 and signed up as a Met Police officer in 2001, being posted to Merton and later Barnet.

He survived the Met’s vetting process for new officers despite already being investigated for his alleged behaviour towards an ex-girlfriend who had dumped him, and he passed his probation in spite of a second criminal probe in which he had been a suspect.

In 2009, Carrick joined the Met’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command as a trusted firearms officer guarding some of Britain’s most sensitive buildings and people, including Parliament itself.

His vetting for that role was much-delayed and did not happened until 2017.

When the charges first started to be brought against Carrick, a court was told a little of his behaviour on dates.

Prosecutor Mark Fleckney said Carrick boasted about owning a pet snake, he told a woman on a first date about his unsavoury nickname, and used his status in the Met to make an impression.

“He confirmed he is a Met Police officer, and indeed he showed her his warrant card”, he said. “He told (her) he worked for the Met firearms unit, guarding a number of important people including the Prime Minister.”

In July 2021 Carrick was arrested for the first time on suspicion of rape, but he avoided suspension, the case was quickly dropped, and he was reinstated. At his second rape arrest in September 2021, Carrick may have believed he had become untouchable as he complained to officers: “Not again”. Yet that allegation was the trigger to finally unveil Carrick’s dark character.

Senior CPS prosecutor Shilpa Shah called Carrick “cocky” when describing police interviews, coming across as “very self-confident, quite charming, as if talking to his friends as police officers. It didn’t seem like he was concerned.”

Carrick has now spent more than 15 months in prison as the charges mounted up against him, and at an early stage he sacked his legal team and attempted to plead guilty – perhaps aware of the mountain of evidence being gathered against him.

The PC entered the first of his guilty pleas in December 2022. He displayed little emotion under the public glare as the Old Bailey court clerk spent almost an hour detailing his crimes.

But before entering the dock Carrick had spent more than ten minutes sullenly staring at his shoes, contemplating his fate, and steeling himself to admit being one of the worst rapists in British criminal history.

He has visibly lost weight while in prison, and now appears pale and drawn - a world away from his social media photos smiling and posing with pints of beer.

Carrick has admitted at least 48 incidents of raping women, amid a shocking abuse of his power and status as a once-trusted Metropolitan Police officer.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×