By Biodun Busari

Serial rapist and former Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick who pleaded to guilty to 24 rape counts has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

According to UK Guardian, the 48-year-old will have to serve at least 32 years before being considered for release.

Carrick subjected 12 women to humiliating and shameful abuse while using his status as a Metropolitan Police officer to pressure and bully them into silence.

The 48-year-old committed violent and degrading sexual offences against a dozen women over two decades.

In the judgment at Southwark Crown Court, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told Carrick, who was in the dock: “You behaved as if you were untouchable. You were bold and at times relentless, trusting that no victim would overcome her shame and fear to report you. For nearly two decades you were proved right.”

His victims, one of whom had a gun held to her head while being raped and another who was hit with a whip, spoke of how they had “encountered evil.”

Flanked by two security guards, Carrick showed no remorse as he was sentenced Cheema-Grubb, UK Guardian reported.

“You behaved as if you were untouchable. The malign influence of men like you in positions of power stands in the way of a revolution of women’s dignity,” she told him.

The judge also commended the courage of his victims, some of whom were in the crowded courtroom, saying that the voice of courage cannot be denied.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said Carrick’s crimes, carried out from 2003 to 2020, were a “scar on our police.”

Southwark Crown Court heard he would “use his power and control” to stop victims reporting him, with one stating it was “drilled into” her that he was a police officer.

In statements read out in court, another victim said she felt she had “encountered evil” after being repeatedly raped by Carrick who put a handgun to her head.

Another woman said Carrick hit her with a whip and would shut her in a small cupboard as punishment while “whistling at her as if she was a dog”.

Carrick’s crimes include dozens of rape and sexual offences, mostly committed in Hertfordshire, where he lived, and all took place while he was a serving officer.

Cheema-Grubb said: “These convictions represent a spectacular downfall for a man charged with upholding the law, and empowered to do so even to the extent of being authorised to bear a firearm in the execution of his duty.

“You were bold and, at times, relentless, trusting that no victim would overcome her shame and fear to report you.

“For nearly two decades you were proved right, but now a combination of those 12 women, by coming forward, and your police colleagues, by acting on their evidence, have exposed you and brought you low.”

He was sentenced to a minimum term of 30 years and 239 days in prison before he could be considered for parole. He admitted 49 charges, including 24 counts of rape.