David Carrick: Two Wiltshire police officers who ‘missed an opportunity’ to investigate a cop who met the serial rapist have been given a final warning | UK news

Former Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick was unmasked as one of Britain’s biggest sex offenders and convicted of murdering 12 women over 17 years after police failed to investigate him on several occasions.

Two Wiltshire police officers have been given a final written warning after failing to properly investigate an allegation of abuse by serial rapist and former police officer David Carrick.

Inspector David Tippetts and PC Emma Fisher faced a disciplinary hearing following an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

The pair failed to properly investigate allegations of abuse Carrick five years before the former Metropolitan Police firearms officer was first arrested.

A woman called Wiltshire Police in January 2016 reported that Carrick had abused another woman.

She wanted the serving policeman to be investigated.

PC Fisher was assigned the case. After speaking with the woman who made the report, she requested that the case be closed before even speaking with the alleged victim.

Her supervisor, Inspector Tippetts, who was a sergeant at the time, agreed.

PC Fisher updated the force’s IT system to say the woman said the matter had previously been investigated – however there is no record of a previous investigation on Wiltshire’s IT system.

If PC Fisher or Inspector Tippetts had searched the police systems they would have discovered that Carrick was already under investigation for an unrelated case which had been reported to the force three days before.

But no officers checked police systems or took further steps to investigate the matter, and the woman who reported the allegations was never contacted by them again.

Similarly, although Carrick was informed that he was a serving police officer, neither PC Fisher nor Inspector Tippetts notified the Metropolitan Police or their own Directorate of Professional Standards.

More on the Carrick case:
Timeline of missed opportunities

The IOPC investigation began in July 2023 and lasted until January 2024.

It sought the expertise of a senior Wiltshire Police detective who had no knowledge of the case, and they said there would have been an expectation that officers would have investigated the case more appropriately.

They added that normally the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) would have been informed of the allegation so that their detectives could follow up and speak to the alleged victim if necessary.

Both officers have shown remorse and confessed to what happened in the early stages of the investigation.

“No one to blame but Carrick – but missed opportunity”

IOPC regional director Mel Palmer said: “No one is to blame for David Carrick’s appalling spate of offending but himself.

“However, our investigation found that Wiltshire Police officers missed an opportunity to investigate him following the reporting of an allegation of serious abuse made years before he was eventually arrested.

“PC Fisher took minimal investigative action. She made no attempt to contact the victim of the reported crime, report to the Met a serious allegation against one of its officers or look up David Carrick’s name in Wiltshire Police’s systems.”

The IOPC added: “PC Fisher called for the investigation to be closed following minimal work or effort and her supervisor, PS Tippetts, agreed and – contrary to force policy – did not raise any concerns with colleagues in the CID who specialize in investigating serious allegations . “

In February 2023, Carrick was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in prison for 49 violent and sexual crimes, including 24 counts of rape.

The ex-cop abused his position of power to torment several different women.

He joined the force in 2001 before becoming an armed officer in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Unit in 2009.

However, there were a number of “systematic failures” in his case.

He joined the Met despite previous allegations and was subsequently the subject of five complaints between 2002 and 2008.

Carrick passed checks to become a firearms officer in 2009, despite a domestic incident in 2004, and was arrested on suspicion of rape in January 2021.

The Met itself admitted there were insufficient background checks carried out in his case.

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“A clear case of failure”

Both Wiltshire officers faced a gross misconduct hearing for possible breaches of police standards of professional conduct.

The company determined that both officers violated standards of conduct related to duties and responsibilities and discreditable conduct and that their actions constituted misconduct.

They imposed final written warnings on both officers, which will last for two years.

Craig Dibdin, Deputy Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police, said: “This is a clear case of officers failing, in the most basic sense, to properly investigate the allegations brought against them.

“This failure in service was compounded by a lack of adequate supervision and control by a supervisor.”

He added: “I would like to apologize unreservedly to the person whose report I did not initially investigate as I should have.

“We will ensure that, from an organizational point of view, we share all the learnings arising from this case to improve the service we provide.”