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 “like being raped all over again”.
Linda Williams, ۶۰, who has waived her right to anonymity, was attacked by Carrick in ۲۰۰۴. 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.
Carrick, ۵۱, who previously served as an armed officer in the Met, is one of the country’s worst sex offenders and is serving ۳۷ life sentences after attacking more than a dozen women.
Williams, from Hertfordshire, has said the way she was treated by the force throughout her legal claim was “devastating” and that it drove her to contemplate suicide.
“The whole process has taken me right back to how I felt when I was raped by Carrick: controlled, abused and powerless,” she said. “If I was raped tomorrow, I wouldn’t report it. Both the criminal justice process and the civil process have been so traumatic.
“I 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’t report it, because of the complete lack of empathy and support I have experienced from the police.
“At 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.”
Williams brought a civil case against the Met seeking damages on the basis the force failed to protect her from Carrick and that she felt she had been unable to report the rape. She said the Met’s legal team in the case questioned the severity of her PTSD diagnosis.
“They used the fact that I just got on with my life as best I could after the rape against me,” she said. “I 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.
“As far as I am concerned, it is Mark Rowley, the [Met] commissioner, saying these terrible things, as he was the defendant in the case.”
She said the Met need to set up a unit overseen by victims like herself who understood what it was like to be raped.
“For this to happen Rowley needs to go and we need a new commissioner,” she said.
Williams alleged it was the “Met’s fault” that she could not report the rape in ۲۰۰۴, and that “little had changed” in the culture since then. She added that the force was “like an episode of Life On Mars”, the ۲۰۰۰s TV drama set in a fictional ۱۹۷۰s police station.
She said: “I wouldn’t have had the back up of my colleagues in dangerous situations and ultimately, I doubt anything would have been done about Carrick.”
Williams reported the rape in ۲۰۲۱, and said she has had no relationships since the attack, ۲۲ years ago. She said: “After the attack, I couldn’t face the thought of being with a man or even having somebody in my home. That makes for a lonely Christmas and no holidays.
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“It’s my choice, but the reason behind it wasn’t my choice. That’s down to the attack. Carrick stole the future that I wanted.”
Williams told the BBC the PTSD she had experienced after the attack was “۹۰% down to the Met police, ۱۰% to Carrick”.
In ۲۰۲۲ and ۲۰۲۳, Carrick pleaded guilty to ۷۱ sexual offences, including ۴۸ rapes against ۱۲ other women over ۱۷ years. In November last year, he was convicted of molesting a ۱۲-year-old child in the late ۱۹۸۰s and repeatedly raping and abusing a female ex-partner.
A Met spokesperson said: “Serious flaws in the way we approached such investigations at the time meant we did not spot his pattern of abusive behaviour.
“As 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.
“Her 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’ welfare and has aimed to deal with her claims as quickly and compassionately as possible.
“The 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.
“He has contacted DC Williams to ask whether she would be willing to meet again and further discuss these issues in person.”
