'Public confidence in the police has been profoundly damaged' – Newbury MP

Newbury MP Laura Farris has waded in on the police conduct debate in the Commons.

The Home Secretary’s statement to the House followed news that David Carrick, a former Metropolitan Police officer, had pleaded guilty to 49 sexual offence charges, including 24 counts of rape.

Ms Farris said that there were commonalities with previous cases – such as that of Wayne Couzens – where there had been, in her view, a “closing of ranks between senior personnel”.

Ms Farris then asked whether the Government would consider outsourcing disciplinary decision-making in police complaints to “another force or, at the very least, an officer who does not know the policeman who is the subject of this kind of allegation”.

The Newbury MP has previously spoken out about police conduct in West Berkshire, following the sentencing of Oliver Perry-Smith, a police officer from Newbury who was jailed for three-and-a-half years for his predatory sexual behaviour towards six women.

Following his sentencing, Ms Farris said she was “shocked” by details of the case and that it had “serious implications for public confidence in local policing”.

Ms Farris’ question to the Home Secretary also follows previous her work in West Berkshire to improve the safety of women and girls.

“The case of David Carrick is just the latest in a litany of serious sexual offending by police officers and comes on the back of Wayne Couzens whom he served alongside,” she said.

“The first allegation of sexual assault was made against Carrick in 2003. After that there were nine more complaints, but not once was he suspended from work or subject to disciplinary proceedings.

“Public confidence has been profoundly damaged in the Met Police and these failures detract from the excellent work that so many police officers do every day.

“Two important reviews are due for publication on standards of vetting and disciplinary procedures in our national police forces in the coming months, and I have made clear that disciplinary decision-making should not be handled by friends or colleagues of the officer concerned.”

Police will now be checked through the vetting procedure to weed out any other sex offenders,