David Carrick: serial rapist and former Met police officer sentenced to more than 30 years in prison – live updates

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Here’s more on those comments Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb made earlier to Carrick (see 11.46am). She said:

These convictions represent a spectacular downfall for a man charged with upholding the law and empowered to do so even to the extent of being authorised to bear a firearm in the execution of his duty.

Behind a public appearance of propriety and trustworthiness you took monstrous advantage of women.

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.

You have lost your liberty, your job and your status. You have before you the prospect of a difficult time in custody for many years.

As the judge started her remarks, Carrick – in a dark grey jacket and tie – looked at her. But his gaze dropped to the floor as she detailed the harrowing accounts of his offending.

The judge details the account of one woman, who she says Carrick left in a suicidal state after raping her multiple times. These even included times where the woman’s daughter could hear the attacks, the judge says. She says humiliation and domination were themes of the offences.

Mr Justice Cheema Grubb tells Carrick his use of his position as a police officer allowed him to continue offending for as long as he did.

She details the account of one of the survivors – the first Carrick is now known to have attacked – who was told by a nurse treating the injuries he inflicted that his fellow officers would protect him if she complained, and that it might be better for her to just move on.

The judge says this is an example of how Carrick’s position protected him and demonstrated the degree of “moral corruption” in the way in which survivors are seen in society.

The judge is summarising the women’s accounts. She has stressed that she will not name any of them in order to protect their automatic legal right to anonymity as complainants of sexual offences.

Updated at 06.51 EST

The judge reminds him of the oath he took as a police officer to uphold the law. Yet, she says, his offences started almost immediately after he started in the job. And she says he used his job as a police officer to lure his victims, telling them he was the “safest person” they could be with.

She says the use of police-issue items to force the women he attacked to submit was a theme of his offending.

The second day of the sentencing hearing is underway at Southwark crown court.

Mrs Justice Cheema Grubb tells Carrick he has admitted 71 offences, representing a “spectacular downfall” for a man in his position of responsibility and power. “You behaved as if you were untouchable,” she adds. “for nearly two decades you were proved right.”

But she tells Carrick the survivors of his attacks have come together and, “together, have brought you low”.

Their report adds:

Carrick was a Met officer from 2001 until last month, when he was sacked.

The Met received eight complaints from women about Carrick and failed to take action or spot he was a danger before his arrest in October 2021.

In 2009 he passed selection to be given a gun and gain a plum role guarding parliament and diplomatic sites, and cleared vetting again in 2017.

Police and prosecutors said he had exploited his status as a Met officer to put victims at ease, then, as they tried to leave him, threatened that their claims against a serving officer would be disbelieved.

The sentencing hearing at Southwark crown court will hear statements from Carrick’s victims of the impact his attacks on them had.

He will be sentenced by Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, who has told the sacked former Met officer that he must attend in person.

Her sentencing remarks on Tuesday may be televised.

The court of appeal has upheld that offending by a police officer who uses his status to aid his crimes can be an aggravating factor deserving a more punitive sentence.

A court earlier heard that before one alleged attack on a woman in September 2020, Carrick, from Stevenage in Hertfordshire, flashed his police warrant card to make the woman feel safe, bragged about guarding the prime minister, and said his work nickname was “bastard Dave”.

There’s a lengthy delay in getting proceedings started this morning, so let’s recap some of the background to the case. My colleagues Emine Sinmaz and Vikram Dodd report:

The first rape charge against Carrick in October 2021 prompted 11 other women to come forward; whom Carrick eventually admitted attacking.

The offences Carrick was convicted for started in 2003, continuing until 2009 and then resuming in 2016 through to 2020. The gap of more than six years in offending puzzles detectives, who believe it is unlikely his offending was paused from 2009 to 2016.

Asked in January if there were more victims, DCI Iain Moor, who led the investigation into Carrick, said: “From my experience. I think there will be, yes.”

Carrick pleaded guilty to 49 charges against 12 women between 2003 and 2020. Some of the charges detailed multiple offences. He also locked some victims in a small cupboard.

Police have declined to say how many other potential victims have come forward since January.

Hertfordshire constabulary, which set up a website for potential victims, said in a statement: “We have already received some information via the portal and our usual reporting channels, following Monday’s hearing. We will be contacting everyone who has been in touch.

“Should any further offences come to light they will be investigated accordingly and appropriate support will be provided if required. We will not be providing further detail about the number or nature of these calls.”

Hello, this is our live blog of the sentencing of the serial rapist former Metropolitan police officer David Carrick.

Proceedings are due to start soon in courtroom two at Southwark crown court – the second day of Carrick’s sentencing hearing.

Carrick, 48, has admitted using his status as a Metropolitan police officer to commit 48 rapes amid 85 serious offences against 12 women in a 17-year long campaign of terror and humiliation. He faces a lengthy custodial sentence once Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb concludes her remarks.

Yesterday, we reported that the criminal investigation into him would stay active even after his sentencing and imprisonment, as detectives sift through information about alleged further offending.

Updated at 06.03 EST