UK police officer pleads guilty to dozens of sexual offences

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - A London police officer has pleaded guilty to dozens of sexual offences, including multiple rapes, the Metropolitan Police said Monday.

David Carrick, who was suspended from duty when he was arrested in October 2021, appeared at Southwark Crown Court early Monday and entered guilty pleas to four counts of rape, false imprisonment and indecent assault.

Carrick was an armed officer who served with the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command of the Metropolitan Police Service.

"We have failed. And I'm sorry. He should not have been a police officer," said Mark Rowley, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

Noting they failed in two respects, Rowley said they should have been more intrusive and more determined to root out such "a misogynist."

"I apologize to all of David Carrick's victims. And I also want to say sorry to all of the women across London who feel we've let them down," he added.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police said it had set up a Domestic Abuse and Sexual Offending investigation team targeting any officer or staff member who may be engaged in domestic abuse or sexual offences.

Carrick, whose offences took place between 2003 and 2020, mostly in Hertfordshire, where he lived, will be sentenced at a hearing at Southwark Crown Court beginning on Feb. 6, said the police statement.