On November 19, 2025, the UK public was confronted with a disturbing reminder of the depths of betrayal possible from those sworn to protect them. Former Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick, already branded one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of molesting a 12-year-old girl and raping a former partner, capping a saga of abuse that spanned more than three decades and left a trail of trauma in its wake.
At 50 years old, Carrick’s latest convictions—five counts of indecent assault, two of rape, one of sexual assault, and one of coercive and controlling behavior—add to a staggering criminal record. The former armed officer is already serving a minimum term of 32 years, handed down in 2023 after he admitted to 71 sexual offences, including 48 rapes, against 12 women over 17 years. According to BBC News, these new offences underscore that Carrick’s predatory behavior began long before he donned a police uniform, stretching back to the late 1980s when he was just a teenager himself.
The court heard harrowing testimony about the abuse suffered by his first victim, a girl in year 7 at school, who endured 18 months of sexual assaults. Carrick, then 14, would cover her mouth to stifle her screams. In a pre-recorded video played to the jury, the now-adult woman described him as “very sly” and “manipulative,” recalling how she “lived in fear” and “didn’t understand it” because she was “quite naive at 12.” When she finally told her mother, the matter was, in her words, “brushed under the carpet like it was nothing.” Years later, a letter signed “Dave” and recovered from Carrick’s medical records would provide chilling corroboration. In it, Carrick confessed to the abuse, writing, “I know how [the girl] must feel. That’s why I stopped and promised I would never go near her again and I have kept that promise and I always will.” According to The Independent, he also acknowledged, “She is not crazy. It is true.”
Despite this written admission, Carrick dismissed the allegations at trial, claiming the victim was lying. He did not take the stand in his own defense, a silence that prosecutor Tom Little KC described as “deafening.” Little told jurors that Carrick, by hiding behind the “facade” of a trusted police officer, must have felt “invincible” for two decades, until his world came “crashing around his ears” in 2022 when his crimes were finally exposed.
The second victim’s ordeal began more than 20 years after the first. She met Carrick through a dating website, initially finding him “charming, witty, sarcastic”—the very image of “Mr Nice Guy.” But this veneer quickly gave way to a pattern of control and violence. Over the course of their relationship, Carrick subjected her to repeated rape and degrading treatment. In a police interview played to the court, she described how he strangled her, called her abusive names, and kicked her out of the house. She told jurors that Carrick had “ruined” her life and tainted her view of relationships and intimacy. “It was quite traumatising—I wish I’d never met him,” she said, according to Sky News.
When confronted with these accusations, Carrick again denied any wrongdoing, insisting the sexual acts were consensual and alleging that his ex-partner was motivated by the MeToo movement. The jury, however, was unconvinced, finding him unanimously guilty after five hours of deliberation.
Senior Crown prosecutor Shilpa Shah, who led both prosecutions, described Carrick as “a manipulative, controlling and abusive man who created a facade for the rest of the world so that no one would realise what he was doing behind closed doors.” She added, “He was aggressive, abusive, violent, and yet he appeared to be charming and charismatic. He didn’t count on his victims coming forward and exposing him as they have and I’d like to thank them for doing so.” Shah emphasized that the evidence—including the written confession and compelling victim testimonies—made for “a very strong case.” She called the ordeal “one of the most horrific, harrowing cases that I’ve had to deal with,” crediting the victims’ courage for securing the convictions.
Detective Superintendent Iain Moor of Hertfordshire Police echoed these sentiments, expressing regret that Carrick’s confession had not been reported to police in 1990. “This was all about the victims and ensuring that they had a voice and that they were able to tell their story and be believed. Hopefully it will help them with their recovery,” Moor said. He acknowledged the wider damage to public trust in the police, especially in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard by another serving Met officer, Wayne Couzens. “Hopefully, people are starting to feel more confident to come forward and report matters to the police. I think there’s still more work to do,” Moor remarked, urging any other victims to speak up.
Carrick’s policing career began in 2001, joining the Metropolitan Police before rising to become an armed officer in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection unit in 2009. His position of authority, as prosecutors argued, enabled him to operate with impunity for years. The revelations about Carrick’s crimes—and the systemic failures that allowed them to go unchecked—have fueled public anger and shaken confidence in law enforcement institutions across the UK. According to GB News, Carrick was handed 36 life sentences in 2023 for his earlier offences, making him one of the most prolific sex offenders in British history.
The sentencing for Carrick’s latest convictions is scheduled for November 20, 2025. While justice has finally caught up with him, the scars left by his actions will remain with his victims and the communities he betrayed. As the dust settles on this latest chapter, the hope among law enforcement and advocates is that the bravery of those who came forward will encourage others to break the silence, and that the system will never again allow such abuses to be hidden behind a badge.
For now, the verdict stands as a sobering reminder: no uniform, no matter how trusted, should ever shield wrongdoing from the light.
