Four officers and a police staff member to face disciplinary proceedings over David Carrick investigations

In July 2023, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) announced it was carrying out four independent investigations into what actions were taken by the force after four reports of serious offending were made against Carrick between 2002 and 2021, while he was a serving MPS officer.

Carrick was eventually arrested in October 2021 and subsequently jailed in February 2023.  He will serve a minimum of 30 years behind bars.

Carrick pleaded guilty to 49 offences against 12 women over nearly two decades, including 24 counts of rape and further counts of controlling and coercive behaviour, sexual assault and false imprisonment.

The IOPC said its four investigations have all concluded and it has decided that a detective sergeant should face a gross misconduct hearing and a further three officers and a staff member should face misconduct meetings for alleged breaches of the police standards of professional behaviour, all relating to failing to progress misconduct investigations against Carrick.

While the MPS did not initially identify any conduct matters in relation to the investigation of allegations against Carrick, the IOPC said “recognising the level of public concern” the force asked it to review their assessments.

“Our review identified a number of conduct matters and we then took the unusual step of using our ‘power of initiative’ to call in the conduct matters and launch our four investigations,” said the IOPC.

“We are currently preparing learning recommendations for the MPS and for the wider police service in England and Wales around vetting; the police response to off-duty conduct; explaining the difference between criminal prosecutions and police disciplinary proceedings to encourage victims’ support of investigations; and adding a mandatory ‘police perpetrated’ flag to crime recording systems.

“We will announce our recommendations in due course.”

The IOPC’s summary of the four investigations is:

• A report of assault and harassment was made against Carrick by a former partner in 2002. Carrick was spoken to by his line manager but no referral was made to the Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS). We found two officers who were inspectors at the time would have had to face a misconduct meeting had they not already retired from the force.

• A report of assault and harassment was made against Carrick by a former partner in 2016. This was criminally investigated by Hampshire Constabulary. No further action was taken regarding the alleged offending, but the MPS’s DPS was made aware of the allegations. We found that two officers should face misconduct meetings for failing to adequately investigate potential misconduct. One of the officers is now at City of London Police and we are liaising with both forces around disciplinary proceedings.

• In 2019, a report of assault was made by a former partner. This was investigated by Hertfordshire Constabulary. No further action was taken regarding the reported crime, but the MPS’s DPS was made aware of the allegation. We decided that no officers should face disciplinary proceedings but two chief inspectors should be subject to the reflective practice review process (RPRP) relating to their failures to investigate the allegations as potential misconduct.

• A report of rape and sexual assault was made against Carrick by a former partner in February 2021. This was initially recorded by Sussex Police and passed on to Hertfordshire Constabulary after Carrick was identified as the suspect. The criminal case was closed and the MPS’s internal conduct investigation found insufficient evidence upon which a panel could find gross misconduct so Carrick had no case to answer.

“We found that a detective sergeant should face a gross misconduct hearing for potential breaches of the police standards of professional behaviour relating to their alleged failure to supervise adequately that Carrick conduct investigation,” said the IOPC. “We also found that a detective constable and a police staff member should face misconduct meetings.

“Those facing disciplinary proceedings all worked in the MPS’s Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) at the time. In respect of the 2016 and 2019 matters, we found misconduct investigations were started by DPS staff, but these were never progressed after the forces investigating the allegations against Carrick advised DPS that no further action was being taken in relation to the criminal investigations.”

It will now be for the MPS and City of London Police to arrange the respective disciplinary proceedings, the IOPC said.

IOPC regional director Mel Palmer said: “Our thoughts continue to be with all of the women who were victims of this serial predator.

“Our investigations into alleged failures to investigate reports made against David Carrick were comprehensive and identified several missed opportunities to pursue misconduct investigations against him.

“In all cases we identified that officers failed to properly explore, investigate or oversee the misconduct investigations against Carrick, who never faced any disciplinary proceedings despite being the subject of serious criminal allegations on multiple occasions.

“Had these matters been progressed appropriately, Carrick may have potentially faced gross misconduct proceedings and been dismissed from the force well before he was eventually arrested.

“Four officers and a member of police staff will now face disciplinary proceedings, including one officer who will face a gross misconduct hearing, while two more former officers would have faced disciplinary meetings had they not retired from the force.”