David Carrick: Prosecutors reveal the difficulties they faced bringing serial rapist to justice
Prosecutors have revealed the many legal hurdles they faced in bringing former Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick to justice for a second time.
The 50-year-old man admitted to being a serial rapist and harasser of 12 women in 2022 and 2023.
He refused to admit guilt when he was accused of abusing a 12-year-old girl and raping his former partner in the late 1980s, meaning both victims had to face him in court and testify.
Carrick refused to give evidence at the Old Bailey hearing and no evidence was called on his behalf.
But most of the legal wrangling had already been heard in the jury’s absence.
On Wednesday, Carrick was found guilty of all charges against him after an Old Bailey jury deliberated for five hours.
Shilpa Shah, a senior prosecutor in the Crown Prosecution Service’s rape and sexual offenses unit, was examining counsel from the outset of both cases against him.
He said: “It was very important for me to bring the second prosecution because these two new victims were only able to come forward after David Carrick was convicted in 2023.
“They had not felt safe enough to come forward before this and I felt it was necessary to allow their allegations to be on the record so they could express their feelings and how he had ruined their lives so he was fully aware of what he had done to them.
“We also needed to ensure the court was aware that he was abusing a 12-year-old child. His abusive behavior had continued for almost 40 years.
“So this was an important issue that we had to present to the court. “And also for the other victim in this case, we wanted the court to be aware that he was a senior police officer who was still on duty, an armed police officer at the time, and he had repeatedly abused this woman.
“So it was absolutely in the public interest to proceed with these new allegations.”
Carrick’s denial of his guilt meant that the prosecution team had to support the victims in presenting evidence and preparing for trial.
Ms Shah said: “The defense argued in court for both of these claims to be separated and treated as two separate cases.
“Of course we wanted to keep them together, show the strength of the evidence and keep the trial as one.
“That was one of the challenges when we successfully argued for this to remain a single trial.”
But Ms Shah said despite his public notoriety, informing jurors of Carrick’s previous convictions was far from certain before the trial.
He said: “It was absolutely crucial that evidence of his bad character was established, evidence of his previous convictions.
“This also revealed the similarities in the evidence of all the previous complainants compared to the two new victims. It also showed his general pattern of behavior and the extent of his offending.
“And I think the jury needed to hear that to put context into these current allegations.”
Ms Shah said the child abuse charges showed the extent of his offending, which began in adolescence and grew from there.
The strength of the evidence came from the “compelling statements” of two victims and a confession Carrick wrote in 1990 and was uncovered from his medical records.
Ms Shah said: “There was a realistic prospect of conviction from the outset and as you can see from today’s outcome, this was a strong case and I hope the victims now have a sense of justice.”
The barrister encouraged other victims of Carrick’s abuse to contact the police and said the CPS would do everything possible to deliver justice.
He said it was “entirely possible” that Carrick offended in the gap between his first sexual offenses as a teenager and the second when he was a police officer.
Commenting on the guilty verdicts, he told the PA news agency: “I would like to thank these victims for coming forward.
“They were incredibly brave in doing this, having to confront David Carrick in court and explain his appalling, disturbing behavior.
“I hope today’s convictions give them a sense of justice and that they can now move on with their lives.”
He added: “I certainly hope that this case has helped rebuild trust in the force because, as you can see, we have prosecuted a very senior police officer over and over again.
“I hope the public can see that no matter what someone’s position is, we are ready and capable of prosecuting them when there is sufficient evidence.”
