Serial rapist and former Met Police officer David Carrick stripped of £22,000 state-funded pension
18 February 2024, 07:36 | Updated: 18 February 2024, 07:41
Serial rapist David Carrick has been stripped of his state-funded Metropolitan Police pension, the mayor of London has confirmed.
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Carrick, who is one of the UK’s most prolific sex offenders, will lose out on 65% of his state-funded pension, estimated to be more than £10,000 a year, which was contributed by the force.
If the ex-officer, who is currently serving 36 life sentences, is released from prison he will still receive 35% of the pension, which was his own contribution.
Under case law and Home Office guidance, only the police contributions to an officer’s pension can be forfeited, not the officer’s own contributions.
Carrick was jailed in February last year and sentenced to a minimum term of 30 years in jail, meaning he will not be eligible for parole until the age of 78.
He pleaded guilty to a total of 49 offences, including 24 counts of rape against a dozen women.
The London Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac) made a pension forfeiture application to the Home Office when he was jailed last year.
Sadiq Khan said: "David Carrick blatantly abused his position of trust as a police officer to carry out his appalling crimes.
“I have been very clear that steps should be taken to remove the employer contributions of his Met Police pension and it has now been decided that David Carrick will lose all these employer contributions."
Home Office guidance states pension forfeiture can only be applied when an officer has a conviction "committed in connection with their service as a member of a police force".
Met Police deputy assistant commissioner Stuart Cundy said: "We know that David Carrick used the fact he was a police officer as part of his offending, in particular to exercise even greater control and coercion over his victims and to instil fear in them about what might happen if they came forward to report his terrible crimes.
"We reiterate our apology to them that he was able to do so for so long.
"We have worked closely with the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime so that an application could be made to the Home Secretary for pension forfeiture in this case.
"Offending of such an appalling nature must have wide reaching consequences and it is right that the decision has been taken to subject Carrick to the maximum pension forfeiture allowed in law."
Carrick was formally dismissed from the Met in January last year after pleading guilty to offences against 12 women between 2003 and 2020.
He had been repeatedly reported to the Met and Hertfordshire Police while serving before his eventual arrest.
He joined the force in 2001 before becoming an armed officer in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection unit in 2009, which requires one of the highest security clearances for an officer.
