LONDON: A UK judge on Tuesday sentenced a former policeman to life in jail, with a minimum term of 30 years, for dozens of rapes and sexual assaults in the latest case to shame London’s Metropolitan Police force.

Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb handed David Carrick 36 life sentences for a “monstrous” string of 71 sexual offences against 12 women.

She said Carrick, whose crimes included 48 rapes, represented a “grave danger to women” which would “last indefinitely”.

Carrick, 48, a long-serving officer with the Met, Britain’s largest police force, will serve three decades behind bars before he can be considered for parole.

The Met has vowed to end a culture of misogyny and lax vetting highlighted by the rape and murder of a young woman who was snatched off the street by a serving police officer in March 2021.

Anger and distrust towards the police has mounted since the murder of Londoner Sarah Everard during the pandemic by Wayne Couzens who has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in jail.

Carrick and Couzens served in the same armed unit protecting MPs and foreign diplomats.

Cheema-Grubb said Car­r­ick had “brazenly raped and sexually assau­lted” his victims, believing himself to be “untouchable” due to his position which afforded him “exceptional powers to coerce and control”.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2023