A Metropolitan Police sergeant has been cleared of failing to properly investigate allegations made against serial rapist David Carrick.
DS Ray Mackennon oversaw the investigation into the former armed officer, 51, who is serving 36 life sentences after admitting 71 crimes including rape and sexual assault against a dozen women.
It was revealed at a five-day hearing that DS Mackennon gave Carrick a lift home from Stevenage Police Station in July 2021 after a woman complained that he had raped her.
DS Mackennon also ordered his investigating officer at the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection (PaDP) branch to file a ‘streamlined’ outcome report that presumed Carrick had ‘no case to answer’.
But the detective denied and has now been cleared by a Met Police misconduct panel of failing to ensure that the officer he was supervising adequately investigated a female’s allegations about Carrick.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Valentine said: ‘Our failings in Carrick’s case demonstrate the weakness of our organisational approach at the time to pursuing predatory police offenders.
‘We should have done all we could to support the victim-survivors by taking a far more proactive, intrusive and joined-up approach to examining the allegations against Carrick.
‘We deeply regret that we did not, and our approach did not meet the standard we would expect today.’
Former police officer David Carrick (pictured), 51, pleaded guilty to 71 sexual offences in 2022 and 2023, including 48 rapes against 12 other women over 17 years
He was arrested in July 2021 after a woman reported that he had raped her multiple times – and sent her partner misogynistic messages
Giving evidence, one of Mackennon’s colleagues described a chronically short-staffed and ‘incredibly stressful’ environment at the Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS), which is tasked with misconduct investigations.
The witness, known only as Officer B, told the panel: ‘At the time, this was prior to the murder of Sarah Everard, the DPS had not been properly resourced, and we had very high turnover of officers.’
He added that only one member of the DPS at the time had more than a year’s experience, which, coupled with the high turnover of staff, meant the unit was facing a significant backlog of cases.
Deputy AC Valentine said: ‘We accept that this was an organisational rather than individual failing and have since put measures in place to better support the team who investigate complaints.
‘We have invested heavily in more officers, better training and a culture shift to make victims the key focus of our investigations.
‘This includes the creation of our dedicated domestic abuse and sexual offences investigation team to hold officers and staff who harm women and girls to account at the earliest opportunity.’
The investigation was sparked after a woman, named only as Female E, filed a complaint to police alleging that Carrick had raped her multiple times during their five-month relationship.
The officer also sent ‘derogatory and misogynistic’ Facebook messages to the complainant’s husband, Male J, with whom he made contact out of jealousy.
The convicted rapist wrote: ‘I got (Female E) into anal sex and she loved it* Use her for sex, but don’t marry her.’
DS Mackennon ordered his investigating officer to file a ‘streamlined report’, which Kevin Saunders, for the Met, said ‘should never have been the case’ given the nature of Female E’s complaint.
Mr Saunders added the text exchange and other key pieces of evidence including the woman’s interview, were never reviewed by the investigations team.
‘At the very least, the recording should have been obtained, if not the transcript,’ he said. ‘This is plainly inadequate.’
He previously said the accusations against Mr Mackennon represented a ‘grave dereliction of duty’ and that the failures in the misconduct probe ‘are in part or wholly attributed to unconscious or conscious bias regarding Female E’s sex or race’.
Officer B, the person who drafted the ‘streamlined’ outcome report, said he had done so to tackle a culture in the force where reports had become ‘inordinately lengthy’.
He argued his aim was to bring efficiencies rather than to simply dispose of cases, insisting the abridged outcome report was simply ‘just shorter’.
Carrick remained in the force despite Despite a series of complaints and warning signs over the years (Pictured is a sketch of Carrick at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on October 17, 2024)
‘I was told by a senior officer many years ago that… as a manager, I would try to make efficiencies and do more with less.’
Asked by Fraiser Coxhill, defending DS Mackennon, if he would have said so if he believed Mackennon’s case was ‘plainly unsuitable’ for the process, Officer B replied: ‘Yes.’
The witness added there were additional ‘fail-safes’ in place, noting: ‘The outcome decision is made by the Appropriate Authority (AA) Cell,’ a separate group of senior officers at the Met.
‘It was almost guesswork whether the AA Cell would approve a case or return it for further work.’
Officer B previously said of the new system, introduced in 2020: ‘We won’t always get this right, but that’s where learning comes in.’
Earlier he described DS Mackennon as ‘one of the most professional and hardworking officers’ he had worked with, insisting ‘not at any point’ did he exhibit discrimination based on sex or race.
‘He would deputise in my absence, and I don’t think I can think of a single occasion he has made a decision I would disagree with,’ said Officer B.
Giving evidence Mackennon said his concern as a ‘welfare officer’ was to get Carrick home when he gave him a lift home from Stevenage Police Station on 17 July 2021.
He insisted they did not discuss the woman’s allegations against Carrick in the car.
Carrick’s crimes, committed while he served as a firearms officer in the PaDP, shocked the nation and triggered multiple reviews into policing standards and vetting.
Despite a series of complaints and warning signs over the years, the officer remained in the force, raising serious questions about how he was able to continue offending for so long.
Carrick pleaded guilty to 71 sexual offences in 2022 and 2023, including 48 rapes against 12 other women over 17 years.
He was convicted late last year of molesting a 12-year-old child in the late 1980s and repeatedly raping and abusing a female ex-partner. The earliest date Carrick can apply for release is 2054.
IOPC director Amanda Rowe said: ‘Our role is to decide whether any officers have a disciplinary case to answer.
‘Having accounted for his actions at a disciplinary hearing, the panel, chaired by a senior Met officer, decided the allegations were not proven.
‘Today’s decision brings to an end all of the proceedings relating to our investigations into the way the police handled allegations about David Carrick.’
