David Carrick: Rapist PC case ‘absolutely despicable’, Rishi Sunak tells Met Police chief
The abuse of power perpetrated by the rapist officer David Carrick is “absolutely despicable” and urgent action is needed, the prime minister has told the head of the Met Police.
Rishi Sunak said he had had “constructive” talks with Sir Mark Rowley and “made clear to him – and he agrees – that the abuse of power that we’ve seen this week is absolutely despicable and it needs to be addressed immediately”.
Carrick, an officer for more than 20 years, was found to be one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders after he admitted dozens of rapes and sexual offences in attacks on 12 women.
Mr Sunak said all forces had been asked to see if anyone of concern had managed to get through staff vetting procedures.
He said checks had been “significantly strengthened” in recent years and that the government was ensuring every force now has “best in class” vetting – which will be “independently inspected very quickly”.
Mr Sunak said he is confident Carrick would not have passed the new checks.
The Home Office said running existing officers through national police databases would “help identify anyone who has slipped through the net before vetting standards were toughened”.
Carrick, who worked in London for more than 20 years, pleaded guilty to dozens of offences
Suella Braverman, the home secretary, is also backing an effort by London’s mayor to have Carrick’s state-funded pension, reported to be £22,000 a year, forfeited.
Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, told Sky News he also supported the idea.
“This is one of the most egregious cases of police misconduct in the history of the Met, perhaps in the history of British policing,” he said.
“This disgusting individual should not benefit from his years serving in the Metropolitan Police.”
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Rapist PC films around his house
Read more:
‘He was evil’ – Victim describes months of abuse
Met boss determined to clean up – but culture can’t easily be changed
Timeline of missed opportunities to stop Carrick
The Met has apologised for allowing Carrick to continue working despite nine serious allegations against him over the years, including rape and domestic violence.
Sir Mark, speaking after his meeting with the prime minister, said vetting had been tightened multiple times in the past 20 years but had not always been done well enough.
As well as double-checking staff against databases, he said they were “going back and checking some closed cases” as part of a “belt and braces” approach.
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He stressed that the vast majority of his staff were “doing a great job for Londoners”.
Earlier this week, Sir Mark admitted that 1,000 sexual and domestic abuse claims were being investigated against around 800 of his officers.
The Met has come under intense scrutiny in recent years due to crimes by some of its officers, including Wayne Couzens, who murdered Sarah Everard, and the PCs who shared images of two dead sisters.
The fast-moving developments on Trump’s Ukraine peace deal are dominating the G20 summit in South Africa, as European leaders scramble to put together a counter-proposal to the US-Russia 28-point plan and reinsert Ukraine into these discussions.
European countries are now working up proposals to put to President Trump ahead of his deadline of Thursday to agree a deal.
Ukraine is in a tight spot. It cannot reject Washington outright – it relies on US military support to continue this war – but neither can it accept the terms of a deal that is acutely favourable to Russia, requiring Ukraine to give up territory not even occupied by Moscow and reducing its army.
Overnight, the UK government has reiterated its position that any deal must deliver a “just and lasting peace”.
Ukraine war latest: Kyiv to discuss ending war in talks in Switzerland
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Keir Starmer calls for growth plan at G20
The prime minister, who spoke with E3 allies President Macron of France, Chancellor Merz of Germany and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine on the phone on Friday, is having more conversations today with key partners as they work out how to handle Trump and improve this deal for Ukraine.
One diplomatic source told me allies are being very careful not to criticise Trump or his approach for fear of exacerbating an already delicate situation.
Instead, the prime minister is directing his attacks at Russia.
Read more:
Trump’s 28-point Ukraine peace plan in full
Analysis: We could all pay if Europe doesn’t guarantee Ukraine’s security
Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a plenary session on the first day of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. Pic: Reuters
“There is only one country around the G20 table that is not calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and one country that is deploying a barrage of drones and missiles to destroy livelihoods and murder innocent civilians,” he said on Friday evening.
“Time and again, Russia pretends to be serious about peace, but its actions never live up to its words.”
Pic: AP
On the Trump plan, the prime minister said allies are meetin on Saturday “to discuss the current proposal on the table, and in support of Trump’s push for peace, look at how we can strengthen this plan for the next phase of negotiations”.
Strengthening the plan really means that they want to rebalance it towards Ukraine’s position and make it tougher on Russia.
“Ukraine has been ready to negotiate for months, while Russia has stalled and continued its murderous rampage. That is why we must all work together with both the US and Ukraine, to secure a just and lasting peace once and for all,” said the prime minister.
“We will continue to coordinate closely with Washington and Kyiv to achieve that. However, we cannot simply wait for peace.
“We must strain every sinew to secure it. We must cut off Putin’s finance flows by ending our reliance on Russian gas. It won’t be easy, but it’s the right thing to do.”
Pic: AP
Europeans hadn’t even seen this deal earlier in the week, in a sign that the US is cutting other allies out of negotiations – for now at least.
Starmer and other European leaders want to get to a position where Ukraine and Europe are at least at the table.
There is some discussion about whether European leaders such as Macron and Meloni might travel to Washington to speak to Trump early next week in order to persuade him of the European and Ukrainian perspective, as leaders did last August following the US-Russian summit in Alaska.
But Sky News understands there are no discussions about the PM travelling to Washington next week ahead of the budget.
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