A victim of serial rapist policeman David Carrick has told Sky News how he used his job as a firearms officer to gain her trust before subjecting her to months of physical and mental abuse, telling her: “The safest place you can be is with me.”
This article contains details of abuse that some people may find distressing.
Speaking exclusively to Sky News, the woman said Carrick boasted about his job in the Metropolitan Police, but later went on to repeatedly rape and assault her over the course of their relationship.
The former firearms officer also shot the victim’s young daughter with a BB gun, causing injuries “because he said she was being naughty”, the woman said.
She said Carrick’s controlling behaviour included him starving her and her daughter and placing several surveillance cameras around his home to track their movements while he was at work.
“He would only allow me to have two protein bars a day because he wanted me to be weak and he would watch us on the cameras while he was at work. His eyes were always on us,” she said.
“Once I started eating a pack of blueberries, but he called me and went mad screaming ‘What do you think you are doing?!’
“He said he could see me on the cameras eating something I shouldn’t be.”
The victim said Carrick used to boast about protecting the Queen at Windsor Castle and Barack Obama when he was US president on state visits and how he regularly used to protect prime ministers.
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‘He was so charming’
Carrick met the victim on a dating app and immediately said he was a police officer to gain her trust.
“At first, he was the dream man. He was so charming. But over time that changed. His eyes changed. He was evil.
“I have no idea how someone so f***** up can be a police officer, never mind give him a gun. If he shot anyone I wouldn’t be surprised.”
The victim said she was introduced to his Met colleagues at a pub in London for off-duty drinks but was not allowed to talk.
“When I started to speak to his friends he would stop me,” she said.
“He didn’t want me talking to anyone. A couple of his colleagues reached out to me after that. A couple have been in touch since his arrest as well.”
Repeated rapes over months
The woman was one of many victims who lived with Carrick at his home during their relationship.
Shortly after moving in, Carrick bought permanent window shutters so no one would see in or out.
The victim told Sky News: “In the morning I wanted to get up and start working but he wouldn’t let me. He closed the shutters and said I had to rest because of what he would do to me later. He said he wanted me to have energy.
“He was so manipulating – he knew what he was doing.”
Carrick repeatedly raped her over the course of several months, causing injuries, and urinated over her.
“After he raped me, he would say: ‘Don’t pretend you didn’t want it as much as me.’
“He was such a horrible person. He used to drink wine bottles at a time, saying work was stressing him. He said he hated foreigners.
“One time I wanted to see my friend dying in hospital of cancer and he just told me to let him die.”
Women’s refuge refused to help
The victim said she reached out to a local women’s refuge but that it refused to help after hearing Carrick was a police officer.
She eventually ran away from the house when Carrick was at a wedding because it would be unlikely he would be monitoring the surveillance cameras.
Carrick tried to track her down after she escaped, but she managed to avoid him.
The woman came forward to police when she saw a news report that Carrick had been arrested for rape. “I just burst out crying,” she said.
Carrick pleaded guilty to 49 offences including rape, false imprisonment and possession of a weapon.
The victim’s daughter said: “I know this sounds weird, but I was angry when he pleaded guilty. I wanted to have the chance to tell my story.”
The pair are receiving trauma therapy but say they want to move on with their lives after Carrick is sentenced in early February.
“He doesn’t deserve to ever get out of prison,” the victim said.