No referral to Court of Appeal for David Carrick sentence – Solicitor General

Carrick was jailed for a minimum of 32 years at Southwark Crown Court last month.

The sentence of rapist Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick will not be referred to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentencing (ULS) scheme, the Solicitor General has said (Hertfordshire Police/PA) (PA Media)

The sentence of rapist Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick will not be referred to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentencing (ULS) scheme, the Solicitor General has said.

The disgraced 48-year-old Pc, who was described as a “monster” and “evil” by some of his dozen victims, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 32 years after carrying out a “catalogue of violent and brutal” sex attacks between 2003 and 2020.

On Friday, Michael Tomlinson KC said although “so many” referrals were received under the ULS scheme, “full and detailed legal advice” suggested the case did not meet the high threshold.

The Solicitor General said: “Because of the strong feelings this case evokes, it came as little surprise that I received so many referrals under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme to consider the term of 32 years minus time served handed to Carrick.

At sentence, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb described the 'irretrievable devastation' Carrick has wrought on the women who were victims of his sickening offences and I am satisfied that she gave careful and detailed consideration to all the features of this case

Michael Tomlinson KC, Solicitor General

“I have received full and detailed legal advice and considered the issues raised very carefully and concluded Carrick’s case cannot properly be referred to the Court of Appeal.

“Such a referral can only be made if the legal test is met, irrespective of the seriousness of the offending or the emotions the offending may evoke in all of us.

“But my duty as a law officer in considering whether sentences may be unduly lenient is to act quasi-judicially and independently of government, even when it is not easy or popular.”

Carrick, who joined the Met in 2001 before becoming an armed officer with the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command in 2009, used his position to gain his victims’ trust and scare them into silence.

He held a handgun to the head of one woman and sent another a photograph of himself with a work-issue firearm, saying: “Remember I am the boss.”

He pleaded guilty to 49 charges, including 24 counts of rape, but some were multiple-incident counts, meaning they relate to at least 85 separate offences, including at least 71 sexual offences and 48 rapes.

Explaining the reasons why the sentence cannot be referred, Mr Tomlinson KC said: “At sentence, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb described the ‘irretrievable devastation’ Carrick has wrought on the women who were victims of his sickening offences and I am satisfied that she gave careful and detailed consideration to all the features of this case.

“These include the seriously aggravating factor that David Carrick was a serving police officer and the impact of his horrendous crimes on public confidence in policing, particularly in relation to cases of rape and sexual violence.

“She also had to consider the guilty pleas that were entered by David Carrick and the reduction in sentence guilty pleas attract.

“The threshold for referral is a high one and that was not met in this case. It is only met if the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range reasonably available in the circumstances of the offending.”