A police officer who served in the same elite unit as killer cop Wayne Couzens has admitted to being a serial rapist.

David Carrick was a member of the Metropolitan Police's armed parliamentary and diplomatic protection command at the same time as Couzens, from Deal, who raped and murdered 33-year-old Sarah Everard after he abducted her in south London in March 2021.

Carrick, 48, pleaded guilty to 49 offences, including 24 counts of rape, after carrying out sex attacks on a dozen women over an 18-year period.

The Met has apologised to victims after it emerged the officer had come to the attention of police over nine incidents including allegations of rape, domestic violence, and harassment between 2000 and 2021.

Carrick - who joined the Met in 2001 before becoming an armed officer with the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command in 2009 - faced no criminal sanctions or misconduct findings, and was only suspended after being arrested over a second rape complaint in October 2021.

The failure of the force to address Carrick's offending sooner has echoes of the Couzens case.

Couzens, formerly of Freemen's Way in Deal, was sentenced to a whole-life term for the kidnap, rape and murder of Ms Everard.

But it later emerged he had exchanged misogynistic, racist and homophobic material with police colleagues.

A McDonald's worker from Kent also told how she reported half-naked Couzens to police after he flashed her at a drive-thru weeks before he abducted and killed Ms Everard before setting fire to her remains near Great Chart, Ashford.

DCI Iain Moor, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire major crime unit, said the "sheer number of offences" showed Carrick's "prolific and callous nature" and he expects even more victims to come forward.

Carrick met some of the women through online dating sites such as Tinder and Badoo or on social occasions, using his position as a police officer to gain their trust.

"Whilst he was not a man that stalked the streets scouting for victims – he invested time in developing relationships with women to sustain his appetite for degradation and control – the coercive nature of his offending undermined his victims in the most destructive way," said DCI Moor.