Former Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick, unmasked as one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders, is at Southwark Crown Court for his sentencing hearing.

Carrick, who is from Stevenage and joined the Met Police in 2001, pleaded guilty last month to 49 offences, including rape, sexual assault and falsely imprisoning women.

An investigation into Carrick began in October 2021 when a woman reported him to police for rape, and a further 12 women subsequently came forward. The case spans a 17-year-period, with offences dating from 2003 to 2020.

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All of this offending was committed by Carrick while he was working as a police officer for the Metropolitan Police.

Today, wearing a black suit, the 48-year-old was flanked by three dock officers before court proceedings started in front of a packed public gallery.

The Comet: Protesters from Women Against Rape and Women of Colour in the Global Women's Strike outside Southwark Crown Court.Protesters from Women Against Rape and Women of Colour in the Global Women's Strike outside Southwark Crown Court. (Image: PA)

Carrick carried out a “catalogue of violent and brutal sexual offences…on multiple victims”, prosecutor Tom Little KC said.

“If the offending had to be accurately and fairly summarised, it was systematic, it was catalogue of violent and brutal sexual offences perpetrated on multiple victims, whether he was in a controlling or coercive relationship with them or not, or even if it was just a single occasion.

“The reality was that it did not matter who the victim was…the reality was, if he had the opportunity, he would rape them, sexually abuse or assault them and humiliate them.

“Some of his victims were either appreciably older or younger than him – they were all, in their own ways, vulnerable.”

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Continuing, Mr Little said Carrick “humiliated his victims in a number of ways”.

He told the court: “In addition to the violent sexual offences, the defendant often humiliated his victims in a number of different ways.

“He frequently relied on his charm to beguile and mislead the victims in the first place and would then use his power and control, in part because of what he did for a living, to stop them leaving or consider reporting him.”

The court heard Carrick had undertaken a number of training courses as a police officer, including one on domestic violence in 2005.

Mr Little said Carrick had told one victim he was “the safest person that she could be with” before he raped her.

Speaking about the victim’s ordeal, Mr Little said: “He asked her to sit beside him. She said no.

“He then got up and went to kiss her and again she said no. She told him that she wasn’t interested. He apologised and said sorry.

“They spoke for a while and then she said that she was going to go. She went for the door and tried to open it but she couldn’t do it.

“The defendant told [his victim] that she could not go. He grabbed her by the hair and put his hand round her mouth and dragged her backwards.”

The court also heard how Carrick held a handgun to a victim's head before telling her “you are not going” as he raped her.

Carrick also told one victim he would be the “last thing she saw” as he put his hands around her throat, the court heard.

The Comet: The Stevenage home of Carrick, where he attacked some of his victimsThe Stevenage home of Carrick, where he attacked some of his victims (Image: Hertfordshire Constabulary / CPS)

Speaking about the rape, Mr Little said: “It carried on for some time.

“He put his hands around her throat and said he was going to be the last thing she saw.”

Mr Little told the court they then went to his sitting room where Carrick "talked to her about her parents as if nothing in the last few hours had happened at all", before raping her again.

The hearing continues.