London police officer David Carrick will serve at least 30 years behind bars, a British judge ruled on Tuesday, saying Mr Carrick used his job to take “monstrous advantage of women”.

The disgraced 48-year-old PC, described as a “monster” and “evil” by some of his dozen victims, carried out a catalogue of violent and brutal sex attacks between 2003 and 2020.

In a televised sentencing hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday, Mr Carrick was handed 36 life sentences, with a minimum term of 32 years, minus his time spent on remand after becoming one of the country’s worst-ever sex offenders.

Mr Carrick, who joined the Southwark Crown Court in 2001, before becoming an armed officer with the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command in 2009, used his position to gain the women’s trust and scare them into silence.

He held a handgun to the head of one of his victims and sent another a photograph of himself with a work-issue firearm, saying, “Remember, I am the boss.”

He previously pleaded guilty to 49 charges, including 24 counts of rape, but some are multiple-incident counts, meaning they relate to at least 85 separate offences, including at least 71 sexual crimes and 48 rapes.

Justice Cheema-Grubb told him, “You brazenly raped and sexually assaulted a number of women, some very brutally, and you behaved as if you were untouchable.

“You were bold and, at times, relentless, trusting that no victim would overcome her shame and fear to report you.

“For nearly two decades, you were proved right, but now a combination of those 12 women, by coming forward, and your police colleagues, by acting on their evidence, have exposed you and brought you low.”

Mr Carrick sat in the dock with his eyes closed and head bowed during the hearing in a packed courtroom, including some of his victims, and showed no emotion as he was sentenced.

The court heard Mr Carrick had attempted to kill himself while on remand at Belmarsh prison and was detained in a secure hospital but was found not to be suffering from any mental disorder.

Peter Burt, head of the Crown Prosecution Service Complex Casework Unit in Thames & Chiltern, said Mr Carrick’s crimes were all carried out while he was a serving police officer.

He passed vetting checks to guard sites, including embassies and the Houses of Parliament, and completed training courses, including one on domestic abuse in 2005.

Mr 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.

After his final guilty pleas, he was sacked from the force in January. His 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.

(dpa/NAN)