David Carrick: Cops keep their jobs after failing to investigate Met rapist case

Two police officers who failed to properly investigate allegations of abuse made by serial rapist David Carrick five years before his arrest have received final warnings.

In 2016, a woman called Wiltshire Police claiming Carrick had abused another woman. Officer Emma Fisher was assigned to investigate the case and, after speaking to the complainant, requested that the case be dropped. Her superior, Sergeant David Tippetts, now an inspector, agreed.

None of the officers checked police systems or took any further steps to investigate the matter, and the woman identified as the victim of the abuse was never contacted about the allegation. Had officers searched for David Carrick’s name in Wiltshire Police’s criminal records, they would have found that he was under investigation – in a separate case – for offences against another woman that had been reported to Wiltshire Police three days earlier.

In February 2023, Carrick was sentenced to a minimum term of 30 years in prison for 49 violent and sexual offences, including 24 counts of rape. Despite being told that Carrick was a serving Metropolitan Police officer, officers did not inform the Metropolitan Police’s Professional Standards Directorate of the serious allegations against him, nor did they seek advice from their own Professional Standards Department on next steps.

Mel Palmer, regional director of the IOPC, said: “No one is responsible for David Carrick’s horrific series of offences but himself. However, our investigation found that Wiltshire Police officers missed the opportunity to investigate him after a report of a serious allegation of abuse was made years before his final arrest.

“PC Fisher took minimal investigative action. She made no attempt to contact the victim of the reported crime, to inform the police of a serious allegation against one of their officers or to search David Carrick’s name in Wiltshire Police’s systems. This would have shown that Carrick was already under investigation three days previously following another report of a serious offence.

“PC Fisher requested that the investigation be closed with minimal effort and expense and her superior, Sergeant Tippetts, agreed and failed – contrary to police policy – to raise any concerns with colleagues in CID who specialise in investigating serious allegations.”

The investigation began in July last year on the advice of Wiltshire Police, who had reviewed their systems following Carrick’s conviction and found a report from 2016 that appeared not to have been adequately investigated.

Both officers were given a hearing for gross misconduct for potentially violating the Standards of Professional Conduct in the Police Service. The panel concluded that both officers had violated the Standards of Duty and Responsibility and Dishonorable Conduct and that their actions constituted misconduct. They issued both officers with final written warnings, which will be valid for two years.

Craig Dibdin, Wiltshire Police’s assistant chief constable, said: “This is a clear case of a fundamental failure by officers to properly investigate the allegations made against them. This failure was compounded by a lack of appropriate supervision and oversight by a manager.”

“While it would be inappropriate to comment on the ongoing IOPC investigations, the public will naturally have questions about what impact this inaction may have had on Carrick’s heinous offending after 2016. Our communities must have confidence in us to listen to them, to investigate every allegation made against us without fear or favour, and to keep them fully informed of the action we take.

“I would like to unreservedly apologise to the individual whose report we did not initially investigate as intended. We will ensure that we share all learnings from this case to improve our service.”