London police officer charged with rape

By Samantha Beech and Pierre Meilhan, CNN

The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service has authorized local police to charge a London Metropolitan Police officer with one count of rape, amid ongoing public outcry over women’s safety in the country.

The news comes one month after the alleged attack on September 4. The officer, David Carrick, 46, is due to appear in court on Monday at Hatfield Magistrates’ Court, according to the prosecution service.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement that it suspended Carrick on Saturday, the same day he was arrested by the Hertfordshire Constabulary. It also said it is waiting for the outcome of criminal proceedings and that Carrick had been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

CNN does not know if Carrick has legal representation.

“I am deeply concerned to hear the news today that an officer from the Met’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command has been arrested and now charged with this serious offence. I fully recognize the public will be very concerned too,” Commissioner Cressida Dick said in the statement.

Dick added that “criminal proceedings must now take their course so I am unable to comment any further at this stage.”

The announcement of the rape charge comes only three days after another Met police officer, Wayne Couzens, 48, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard on March 3, a case that sparked outrage and a national debate about violence against women.

London’s Metropolitan Police force has faced a barrage of criticism for their actions in the days after Everard’s disappearance.

The police regulator, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), is investigating whether the Met responded appropriately to at least two reports of indecent exposure incidents linked to Couzens, who was fired from the force in July, days after he pleaded guilty to the kidnap, rape and murder of Everard.

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