The Prime Minister has said the Met Police must work hard to ‘restore public confidence’ after the ‘sickening’ case of rapist officer David Carrick.
Speaking at PMQs Rishi Sunak said Carrick’s abuse of power was ‘truly sickening’.
It comes after the firearms officer, known to police colleagues as ‘Bastard Dave’ is facing decades behind bars after admitting a total of 49 offences between 2003 and 2020.
Carrick, 48, from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, pleaded guilty to 43 charges at the Old Bailey in December and the final six at Southwark Crown Court on Monday.
Mr Sunak said: ‘‘I know members from across the house will be as shocked and appalled as I am about the case of David Carrick.
‘His abuse of power is truly sickening and our thoughts are with his victims.
‘The police must address the failings in this case, restore public confidence and ensure the safety of women and girls.
‘There will be no place to hide for those who use their position to intimidate those women and girls, or those who have failed to act to reprimand and remove those people who are not fit for office.’
On Monday the Met admitted failings in missing multiple opportunities to suspend Carrick, saying he was involved in nine separate police investigations before being detained.
The Met apologised to victims after it came out that Carrick’s attacks had come to their attention over nine incidents including allegations of rape, domestic violence, and harassment between 2000 and 2021.
Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: ‘I think we’ve failed over two decades to be as ruthless as we ought to be in guarding our own integrity.
‘We haven’t been as intrusive as we should be, joining the dots on cases to spot problematic officers and we haven’t been as determined in our decision making, as confident and assertive as the public would expect and that is why I’m apologising.’
The commisioner says the force will be ‘ruthless’ in review of 1,000 sexual and domestic abuse claims involving its officers, after cop admits multiple rapes.
The Metropolitan Police said 1,633 cases of alleged sexual offences or domestic violence involving 1,071 officers and other staff are being reviewed to ensure the appropriate decisions were made.
Addressing the review, Sir Mark told the BBC: ‘So that’s a thousand cases to look at.
‘Some of those will be things of no concern in the end when we look at them, because it will be an argument overheard by neighbours where inquiries show there’s nothing to be concerned about.
‘But in there, I’m sad to say, there will be some cases where in the past we should have been more assertive and looked to throw officers out, and we haven’t done,’ he said.
He added ‘We’re going to turn all those stones over, we’re going to come to right conclusions, and we will be ruthless about rooting out those who corrupt our integrity. You have my absolute assurance on that.’
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