Carrick investigation 'hindered by officer's bias'
Unconscious bias about a victim's race and sex led a Metropolitan Police detective to fail to oversee a thorough investigation into serial rapist David Carrick, a tribunal has heard.
Carrick, 51, a former armed officer in the Met, is one of the UK's most prolific sex offenders and is currently serving 37 life sentences for attacks on more than a dozen women.
Officer A, line-managed by Det Sgt Ray Mackennon, was appointed to investigate Carrick in August 2021 after a woman reported that he had raped her multiple times during their five‑month relationship.
Mackennon denies failing to ensure Officer A properly investigated the woman's allegations.
Kevin Saunders, the appointed appropriate authority on behalf of the investigation, said: "The failures of the officer concerned are in part or wholly attributed to unconscious or conscious bias regarding Female E's sex or race."
The panel heard that the woman had told police she wished to end the criminal investigation because she did not feel "mentally strong enough" to continue.
Saunders told the hearing that she had not retracted her allegation but had instead given a statement of "unwillingness or reluctance" to proceed.
The detective failed to ensure or direct Officer A to contact other witnesses or to adequately investigate "derogatory, misogynistic, sexualised and grossly offensive Facebook messages" between Carrick and Female E's partner.
The hearing was told Mackennon was "heavily critical of Female E's credibility due to perceived inconsistencies" during a police interview and made "repeated references" to her immigration status.
He had also directed the use of an "inadequate streamlined investigation" and a "streamlined outcome report", Saunders said.
The misconduct probe had relied on a seven‑sentence summary of a police interview with Carrick, while officers failed to obtain the full 49‑page transcript, the panel heard.
Saunders said accusations of rape "rise and fall on a careful analysis of credibility".
He argued that if Female E's allegation was dismissed through a simplified process without such an examination, the dismissal was inappropriate.
He said: "We are at this stage now where circumstances of very serious allegations have been made against a serving Met Police officer.
"The criminal investigation did not continue due to an unwillingness on the part of a vulnerable complainant, but that did not in itself give rise to determination of a conduct investigation, and I submit that that submission is uncontroversial."
Saunders said the accusations against Mackennon amounted to a "grave dereliction of duty" and, if proven, could constitute gross misconduct and justify his dismissal.
The misconduct hearing continues.
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