'I was put in boot of police car and driven around for hours', says David Carrick victim

A victim of the rapist police officer David Carrick has said she was put in the boot of a police car for hours and driven around on blue lights.

The victim, referred to as “Michelle” because she has chosen to remain anonymous, is a serving police officer.

She said she was raped by Carrick in 2004, when she stayed at his house after they had worked a long shift together.

However, Michelle told BBC Radio 4 she “certainly wasn’t” going to report the assault because of the “male-dominated” culture of the Met at the time.

“I did get put in the boot of a police vehicle for half a shift as a joke – that’s what they did to a lot of females when they joined,” she said.

“They would tell you to get in the boot of the car and you would get driven around on blue lights.

“I’ve had property of the Met stamped on various parts of my anatomy. It was done in a laughing joking sort of way.

“It was a bit like Life on Mars – that’s how I’ve always described working in the Met.”

Describing the rape, Michelle added: “We’d worked a particularly long shift and he suggested that I stay at his house, and he raped me. I am a police officer, I know the definition of a rape.

“And I know no means no. Because he kept saying yes, I know he heard me say no, but he did it anyway. He just didn’t care.”

Michelle said she feared the damage it could do to her career if she made a formal allegation.

But when she heard Carrick had been charged with the rape of a different woman, she she said that she was horrified.

“I felt I owed it to them to report it, I'm paid to protect people and I felt guilty that I hadn't reported anything, I'm trying to deal with rape victims but I had let them down, I needed to stand up and do my bit,” she said.

'Sea change' in Met's culture

Steve Hartshorn, the chair of the Police Federation, said he was confident there had been a “sea change” in the culture of the Met.

“We certainly welcome a review of the vetting,” he told BBC Radio 4.

Asked whether a prior arrest should disqualify prospective officers from joining the police, the spokesman said: “Absolutely, (but) police officers do have vexatious complaints all the time and just because someone is arrested, it’s no different from a member of the public.

“That allegation should be investigated properly and professionally and a determination should be made whether there’s any evidence in it at all, or whether it needs progressing to take forward to the CPS, so that information is looked at as properly and effectively as it should be.”

Carrick has admitted 24 counts of rape, as well as charges of sexual assault, controlling and coercive behaviour and false imprisonment.

The former Metropolitan Police officer, who has been unmasked as one of Britain's most prolific sex offenders, is set to appear for a two-day sentencing on Monday.