Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection
Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection (PaDP) is a branch of the Protection Command within the Specialist Operations directorate of London's Metropolitan Police Service.[1]
Controversial incidents[edit]
In early 2021, PC Wayne Couzens, who then served with PaDP,[14] used his warrant card to arrest Sarah Everard under the pretence of her having breached the COVID-19 regulations then in effect. He then drove her to the outskirts of Dover where he raped her and then strangled her with his police duty belt. He later burned and disposed of her remains in a pond in Great Chart. Couzens received a whole life order (meaning that he will serve his life sentence without the possibility of parole) for the murder, with the judge explaining that the case was especially serious given the breach of trust involved.[15]
Three days after Couzens was jailed,[16] PC David Carrick, a serving member of PaDP[17] was charged with one count of rape following an alleged attack on a woman on the night of 4 September 2021.[18] On 24 November 2021 and 10 January 2022, he was subsequently charged with a further dozen counts of rape (and sixteen of related offences) alleged to have occurred between 2009 and 2018 against seven other women.[19] On 17 March 2022, Carrick was charged with a further twelve offences, some related to new complainants, that allegedly took place between 2003 and 2015.[20] Separately, on 18 March 2022, Wayne Couzens was additionally charged with four counts of indecent exposure related to alleged incidents in January and February 2021, which the Independent Office for Police Conduct had previously determined where inadequately investigated by police.[21] In his first appearance before the Home Affairs Select Committee in April 2022, Acting Metropolitan Police Commissioner Stephen House said an inquiry into PDaP's culture had found the unit suffered from a lack of supervision.[22]
In November 2022, Carrick had an additional nine sex offence charges added to the 44 he was already facing, bringing the total of alleged offences to 21 counts of rape, nine counts of sexual assault, five counts of assault by penetration, three counts of coercive and controlling behaviour, two counts of false imprisonment, two counts of attempted rape, one count of attempted sexual assault by penetration, and a further count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.[23] On 16 January 2023, while appearing at Southwark Crown Court, Carrick pleaded guilty to 49 offences against 12 women, including 24 counts of rape, which were committed between 2003 and 2020.[24]