A POLICE watchdog yesterday launched four separate investigations into alleged failures by the Met Police to deal with serial rapist David Carrick over previous reported offences made against him.
The probes will examine why cops allegedly “repeatedly failed to take appropriate action when serious criminal allegations were made” against Carrick while he was a serving Met officer.
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Four investigations were launched into alleged failures by police to stop serial rapist cop David Carrick Credit: PA
Eight cops and one civil staff worker are being investigated for “apparent failures to progress misconduct investigations” against Carrick after criminal investigations were dropped in the four cases.
Those being probed include six people who worked for the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards at the time and range in rank from constable to chief inspector.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is utilising its rarely-used “power of initiative” which allows the watchdog to mount misconduct investigations without a referral from a force.
IOPC regional director Mel Palmer said the watchdog was “deeply concerned” that Carrick’s name was removed from Met systems in two of the four cases after criminal investigations were dropped.
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It meant the offences did not show up when later allegations were made against Carrick and officers were “unable to build a complete picture of his pattern of offending.”
Ms Palmer said: “These were potentially missed opportunities to pursue gross misconduct investigations against Carrick, which may have led to his dismissal years before he was eventually arrested.
“We will now be investigating the conduct of the officers involved in these cases, and at the end of our investigations we will determine whether they should face disciplinary proceedings.”
Firearms protection cop Carrick, 48, was jailed for a minimum of 30 years at London’s Southwark crown court in February this year after admitting 85 offences, including 48 rapes, against 12 women over two decades.
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It emerged that he was able to continue exploiting his authority to rape and abuse women off duty despite being reported to police on a total of nine separate occasions for sex crimes and harassment.
They also included two offences of burglary and sending a malicious communication made by a girlfriend the year before the former soldier joined the Met in 2001.
No action was taken against him in any of the nine previous reports.
The IOPC launched a review of police actions over Carrick’s previous offences late last year.
Full-scale investigations will now focus on four of the cases to question why no misconduct action was taken against Carrick before he was eventually unmasked in October 2021.
One of the four cases involved an allegation of harassment made to the Met by a former partner in 2002 while Carrick, of Stevenage, Herts, was still a probationer.
The IOPC said that if disciplinary proceedings had taken place at the time “he potentially could have been removed from the force and stripped of his status as a police officer. “
Instead, he was only spoken to by his line manager and the DPS was not informed.
The DPS began misconduct probes into the other three cases but dropped them when no criminal action was taken.
Those three cases are:
A former partner alleged she was harassed and stalked by Carrick and reported the offences Hampshire Police in 2016. A woman was attacked and dragged out of Carrick’s house by him in 2019 and reported it to Herts cops. In February 2021 a woman reported being raped by Carrick to Sussex Police and it was passed to Herts to deal with as the offence happened there. The Parliamentary and Diplomatic unit cop later admitted the crime.
Several of the police personnel under investigation have since retired while one has moved to another force.
The IOPC’s Ms Palmer said David Carrick’s “horrendous offending” while he was a serving officer had “ shocked the public and cast a dark shadow on policing..”
She added: “The nature and extent of his offending also raised serious questions about whether disciplinary action should have been taken against him when serious allegations were made about his behaviour.
“The police forces did not record any conduct matters arising from their handling of allegations against Carrick.
“However, we identified indications some officers may have behaved in a manner which would justify disciplinary proceedings.
“Our review has identified repeated failures to progress conduct investigations when the Met’s DPS officers were advised that no further action was being taken by the forces carrying out the criminal investigations into Carrick.“
The IOPC said it will be passing on the findings of its review to national police training and policy bodies with recommendations around vetting and dealing with off-duty conduct by officers.
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Separately, the IOPC has begun an investigation into Wiltshire Police over an alleged failure to investigate a crime report made against Carrick in 2016.
Meanwhile, more than ten new complainants have come forward to police and accused Salisbury-born Carrick of further offences since he was jailed.
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The probes will examine why cops allegedly 'repeatedly failed to take appropriate action' against Carrick Credit: Social Media- Refer to Source