Listen to the news

Former London police officer David Carrick, who admitted dozens of rapes and sexual assaults on 12 women, was sentenced today to at least 32 years in prison for "multiple violent crimes and brutal sexual assaults," Reuters reported.

Agence France-Presse notes that this new scandal further erodes confidence in Scotland Yard

The revelations of these crimes, which took place over 17 years, sent another shock wave across the UK less than two years after the case of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old Londoner who was abducted, raped and killed by a Metropolitan police officer who was subsequently jailed for life prison.

After Carrick, 48, pleaded guilty, the trial effectively boiled down to a two-day hearing yesterday and today, at the end of which the verdict was announced.

The ex-policeman specifically pleaded guilty to 24 offenses related to the rapes he was accused of, but some charges related to more incidents, so he was charged with at least 85 offences, including 48 rapes.

Prosecutor Tom Little yesterday ruled that the gravity and scale of what had been done could lead to an effective life sentence.

He listed the "systemic cases" of aggression by David Carrick against "humiliated victims".

One of the victims of the "Sexual Predator": I was raped three times in 20 minutes

Carrick used his charm to "seduce and deceive" his victims, and his official position to dissuade them from complaining, the prosecutor explained.

In 2003, for example, Carrick introduced himself to a woman he met in a bar as "the safest person she could ever be with";

then put his weapon to her head and raped her several times.

Another, with whom he met on a specialized site, described him as a "monster" when he got drunk, which is to say, most of the time.

Carrick called her his slave and made her host naked.

Another woman said he whipped her, locked her in a wardrobe and whistled at her like a dog because she was "his property and she had to be obedient".

In their testimony, the women said they felt "trapped" and no longer trusted the police.

Ahead of the sentencing, London police again apologized for the affair.

"He shouldn't have been a police officer," Deputy Commissioner Barbara Gray said.

She pointed out that Scotland Yard is determined to expel from their ranks those who ruin their reputation.

rapes