I was raped by David Carrick – and Sarah Everard's mother inspired me to come forward
A victim of David Carrick has revealed how she was drugged, beaten and raped – before Sarah Everard’s mother inspired her to come forward to help convict the sadistic cop.
The former police officer, 48, was jailed for a minimum of 30 years earlier this month for carrying out a string of ‘violent and brutal’ sex attacks after taking ‘monstrous advantage’ of at least a dozen women.
One of the victims has said the words of Ms Everard’s mother – whose daughter was kidnapped, raped and murdered by another Met officer Wayne Couzens – made her determined to put Carrick behind bars.
The woman, who suffered at the hands of Carrick for 13 months, said she wanted to honour Ms Everard’s memory.
She told The Sun: ‘I tried to ignore what Carrick had done to me and didn’t tell anyone. But I read the impact statement from Sarah’s mother and it really got to me.
Carrick, who joined the Met in 2001 before becoming an armed officer with the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command in 2009, pleaded guilty to 49 charges, including 24 counts of rape.
The woman, who suffered at the hands of Carrick for 13 months, said she wanted to honour Ms Everard’s memory
‘After that I could not ignore what Carrick did. He was another police officer and I was worried he would kill someone next time.
‘By coming forward I was also honouring Mrs Everard, and Sarah’s memory.’
The victim’s testimony encouraged other women to come forward, before the extent of Carrick’s heinous offending was revealed.
Her bravery was later praised by the judge who sentenced Carrick to life imprisonment earlier this month, saying it was ‘remarkable’ how driven she had been to bring his crimes to light and how, in doing so, she had left others feeling able to act.
The woman, a divorcee, added: ‘We spoke a couple of times on the phone before meeting and he was very charming.
‘He was not my type but he said: “I am a policeman and you are safe with me”. It reassured me and gave me a false sense of security.;
She recalled how they first met at a busy pub in St Albans in September 2020, where Carrick had booked a stay at a nearby Premier Inn.
He sent the victim a number of messages the following day, including asking her repeatedly to come and see him.
Carrick reportedly threatened to visit the woman at her workplace if she did not comply, before they met at the pub later that evening.
Sarah Everard (pictured) was kidnapped, raped and murdered by then serving Met Police officer Wayne Couzens
Wayne Couzens (pictured) was handed a whole life order for the murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021
Details of some of Carrick’s horrific crimes were heard in court, including how he sent one of his victims a photograph of himself with a police-issue gun, saying: ‘Remember I am the boss.’
Rushing to get to the pub after work, the woman asked Carrick to order her a Bacardi and Coke, but the former Met officer was sat with a bottle of wine in a cooler when she walked inside.
She said: ‘I told him on the phone I didn’t like wine but he gave it to me anyway. Looking back, I am 99 per cent sure he drugged it.
‘I became drunk very quickly but it wasn’t like the normal effect of alcohol. It was a weird feeling and my head felt like it was expanding.
‘When I first arrived he got out his warrant card and said, “This is the proof that I am a police officer”. He told me he wanted someone submissive and I said “that’s not for me”.
‘Carrick told me he was known as “Bastard Dave” in the police because he was hard.’
The woman began to have further doubts about his character when he labelled one pub-goer a ‘s**g’ who also worked for the force.
She also recalled how Carrick ‘boasted about guarding Boris Johnson in hospital’ when the former Prime Minister was suffering with Covid’ and told of how he had shot one of the terrorists involved in the Borough Market attack.
Carrick only attended the aftermath of the 2017 terror attack and did not shoot anyone.
He is also said to have boasted of being the ‘best shot’ in his unit and was ‘full of himself’, the victim said.
The pair attended a second pub, before Carrick took the woman back to his hotel room.
She said: ‘By then my legs were wobbling and I felt very unwell. He literally dragged me there. I recall thinking “this doesn’t feel right” and seeing the hotel lights but I had no idea where I was.’
The woman recalled being called a ‘disgusting b***h’ and was ‘incapable of standing’.
She woke up naked in an empty bath, but had suffered two broken ribs after being thrown into it.
Carrick, meanwhile, was lying naked on the bed and she only managed to escape when he fell asleep.
As she returned home, the woman said she fact Carrick was a police officer had discouraged her from contacting authorities about the evening.
To retain evidence, she knew not to bath, but felt she needed to ‘wash him away’ and went into work later the same day.
The former Met Police officer, pictured here in uniform and holding a gun, abused a dozen women over the course of nearly 20 years
David Carrick, pictured, was jailed for a minimum of 30 years after admitting to rapes and sexual offences against multiple women
But she was ‘in a lot of pain’ in the following days and began to isolate herself from family and friends as Covid began to spread across the UK.
The woman then became ‘haunted’ by the disappearance of Ms Everard in March 2021, before it later transpired she had been taken off the streets by Met Police officer Couzens and murdered.
She said: ‘When Sarah was murdered by Couzens, it brought what happened to me back again. To this day, Sarah’s face still haunts me.
‘When Couzens was arrested for Sarah’s murder I thought about reporting Carrick then, but I couldn’t do it.
‘I kept seeing Sarah’s face in the papers and when the case went to court I tried to ignore it.’
When Ms Everard’s mother told Couzens’ sentencing that she was ‘outraged’ at how he had ‘masqueraded’ as an officer to get what he wanted, the woman said she was unable to ignore it.
Instead, the day after his sentencing on October 1, 2021, she called the police and explained to an operator what had taken place.
She received a call from a Hertfordshire Police officer and gave a full statement, before Carrick was arrested at his home in Stevenage later the same day.
The case was later dropped, but Carrick subsequently admitted responsibility for the evening.
He would go on to admit 49 charges, including 24 counts of rape, at Southwark Crown Court earlier this month.
Images were released for the first time showing a tiny cupboard that Carrick locked one of the woman in as a form of punishment, as well as a whip he used on the victim.
Carrick set up surveillance cameras which he used to monitor some of his victims at his home
Carrick’s crimes were all carried out while serving with the force – he guarded sites including embassies and the Houses of Parliament, and completed training courses, including one on domestic abuse in 2005.
The woman added that she is ‘angry and very bitter’ towards the Met over failures to conduct proper checks – after it was revealed he had come to the attention of officers of the force.
The Met was forced to apologise and admit Carrick should have been rooted out earlier after it emerged he came to police attention over nine incidents – including allegations of rape, domestic violence and harassment – between 2000 and 2021, with all but one of the incidents relating to his behaviour towards women.
The woman, meanwhile, believes Carrick’s offending would have continued until he killed someone.
She added: ‘My advice to anyone in the same position is, don’t be scared to come forward.’
from London News Station https://ift.tt/9uLrIdb
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