\n<\/p>\n
A detective who was raped by the former Scotland Yard officer David Carrick has called for the head of the Metropolitan police to resign, saying the handling of her case was \u201clike being raped all over again\u201d.<\/p>\n
Linda Williams, 60, who has waived her right to anonymity, was attacked by Carrick in 2004. She launched a legal case against the Met for failing to protect her against the serial rapist, and has now settled for an undisclosed six-figure sum without the force admitting liability.<\/p>\n
Carrick, 51, who previously served as an armed officer in the Met, is one of the country\u2019s worst sex offenders and is serving 37 life sentences after attacking more than a dozen women.<\/p>\n
<\/span>David Carrick.<\/span> Photograph: Hertfordshire police\/PA<\/p>\n Williams, from Hertfordshire, has said the way she was treated by the force throughout her legal claim was \u201cdevastating\u201d and that it drove her to contemplate suicide.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole process has taken me right back to how I felt when I was raped by Carrick: controlled, abused and powerless,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I was raped tomorrow, I wouldn\u2019t report it. Both the criminal justice process and the civil process have been so traumatic.<\/p>\n \u201cI say that as someone who was once a sexual offences officer, supporting victims myself. Despite that experience and my understanding of the system, I still wouldn\u2019t report it, because of the complete lack of empathy and support I have experienced from the police.<\/p>\n \u201cAt no point did I feel they sincerely acknowledged that I had been through a horrific sexual attack and that the trauma of that had deeply scarred me, or their role in it all.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams brought a civil case against the Met seeking damages on the basis that the force failed to protect her from Carrick and that she felt she had been unable to report the rape. She said the Met\u2019s legal team in the case questioned the severity of her post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis.<\/p>\n \u201cThey used the fact that I just got on with my life as best I could after the rape against me,\u201d she said. \u201cI was an exemplary officer and continued to perform well at work, and they relied on that to suggest I had shown no signs of psychological trauma.<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as I am concerned, it is Mark Rowley, the [Met] commissioner, saying these terrible things, as he was the defendant in the case.\u201d<\/p>\n She said the Met needed to set up a unit overseen by victims like herself who understood what it was like to be raped.<\/p>\n \u201cFor this to happen Rowley needs to go and we need a new commissioner,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Williams alleged it was the \u201cMet\u2019s fault\u201d that she could not report the rape in 2004, and that \u201clittle had changed\u201d in the culture since then. She added that the force was \u201clike an episode of Life On Mars\u201d, the 2000s TV drama set in a fictional 1970s police station.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have had the backup of my colleagues in dangerous situations and ultimately, I doubt anything would have been done about Carrick.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams reported the rape in 2021, and said she had had no relationships since the attack, 22 years ago. \u201cAfter the attack, I couldn\u2019t face the thought of being with a man or even having somebody in my home. That makes for a lonely Christmas and no holidays.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/span>Free newsletter |<\/span>Every weekday<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Sign up to First Edition<\/span><\/p>\n Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s my choice, but the reason behind it wasn\u2019t my choice. That\u2019s down to the attack. Carrick stole the future that I wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams told the BBC the PTSD she had experienced after the attack was \u201c90% down to the Met police, 10% to Carrick\u201d.<\/p>\n In 2022 and 2023, Carrick pleaded guilty to 71 sexual offences, including 48 rapes against 12 other women over 17 years. In November last year, he was convicted of molesting a 12-year-old child in the late 1980s and repeatedly raping and abusing a female ex-partner.<\/p>\n A Met spokesperson said: \u201cSerious flaws in the way we approached such investigations at the time meant we did not spot his pattern of abusive behaviour.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a result, we missed opportunities to pursue him through the misconduct process. We deeply regret this. We recognise the unique and additional impact on DC Linda Williams, whose exposure to Carrick came as a result of her being a Met officer.<\/p>\n \u201cHer continued commitment to public service, in spite of the trauma she experienced, is commendable. Throughout subsequent legal proceedings, the Met has tried to reduce further distress and re-traumatisation to DC Williams\u2019 welfare and has aimed to deal with her claims as quickly and compassionately as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cThe commissioner has previously met with DC Williams in person as well as spoken to her via email on multiple occasions. He has repeatedly acknowledged that she has shown courage in speaking out about her experience in an effort to drive forward necessary change and in now waiving her anonymity to continue to do so.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has contacted DC Williams to ask whether she would be willing to meet again and further discuss these issues in person.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A detective who was raped by the former Scotland Yard officer David Carrick has called for the head of the Metropolitan police to resign, saying the handling of her case was \u201clike being raped all over again\u201d. Linda Williams, 60, who has waived her right to anonymity, was attacked by Carrick in 2004. She launched<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[680,25397,689,999,11426,2367,8835,15300,5397,1551,22110,8142],"class_list":{"0":"post-52501","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-calls","9":"tag-carrick","10":"tag-chief","11":"tag-david","12":"tag-detective","13":"tag-fellow","14":"tag-met","15":"tag-metropolitan","16":"tag-officer","17":"tag-police","18":"tag-raped","19":"tag-resign"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}