London, Scotland Yard shaken by new scandal as serial-violeur policeman

Less than a year after the murder of a young woman by a police officer, another agent admitted dozens of rapes, clogging a little more the reputation of the prestigious institution.

by Cécile Ducourieux (London, correspondent)

The murder of Sarah Everard, a young woman kidnapped in the streets of London one evening in March 2021 and then murdered by a police officer from Scotland Yard, Wayne Couzens, caused a very strong emotion in the United Kingdom. She also lifted the veil on shocking breaches within the “Met”, the Metropolitan Police (or Police of the Grand London): systemic racism and misogyny, abuses and even serial crimes … Now a new scandal is already tainting the reputation already Ternie of what was until recently considered one of the most prestigious police corps in the world.

Monday, January 16, David Carrick, a 48 -year -old policeman, confessed dozens of additional crimes, after already recognizing twenty rapes before the courts last December. Colleague of Wayne Couzens, he was like him assigned to the elite body protecting the Parliament of Westminster, ministers and diplomats.

This “serial rapist” went completely under the radars of Scotland Yard (but also from the police of the hertfordshire, the Hampshire and the Thames Valley), in particular retaining his weapon of arms despite nine internal reports between 2000 and 2021 , including eight concerning domestic violence, harassment or attempted rape. He was arrested until the end of 2021 and formally sent from the Police MET only Tuesday, January 17 …

Loss of confidence

It was necessary that one of his victims dares to confide in the police, shortly after the arrest of the murderer of Sarah Everard, so that Mr. Carrick was finally arrested. A dozen other women have also accused it – all are protected by anonymity. Intervening in the House of Commons on Tuesday, the Minister of the Interior, Suella Braverman, praised the courage of these women. She also announced that the independent investigation entrusted by the Home Office in 2022 to Lady Elish Angiolini, an eminent lawyer, to understand how the murderer of Sarah Everard had been able to evolve within the Met without being arrested, would be extended to the case ” Carrick “.

brought before the courts, the testimonies of the police victims are terrible and draw the portrait of a brutal man, trying to exercise physical and moral control over women whom he called his “slaves” or his “prostitutes “. He contacted them on meeting applications, befriends them, then his behavior changed. He multiplied the violence, the degrading acts, the attempted rapes, taking advantage of his police status to reduce his companions in silence.