LONDON: A former London police officer was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison with a minimum term of 30 years for raping and sexually assaulting a dozen women over a 17-year period, reports AP.

Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick, 48, admitted last month he was a serial rapist in what prosecutors described as one of the most shocking cases involving a serving police officer.

During Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said the former officer “took monstrous advantage of women” behind a public appearance of propriety and trustworthiness.

“You brazenly raped and sexually assaulted a number of women, some very brutally, and you behaved as if you were untouchable. You were bold and at times relentless, trusting that no victim would overcome her shame and fear to report you,” the judge told Carrick.

“For nearly two decades you were proved right but now a combination of those 12 women, by coming forward, and your police colleagues, by acting on their evidence, have exposed you and brought you low,” she added.

The judge said Carrick had attempted to kill himself while on remand in a London high-security prison.

The Metropolitan Police has apologised to victims after it emerged that nine allegations of rape and other crimes were made against Carrick between 2000 and 2021. He was only suspended from the force after his arrest for a rape complaint in 2021.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman, the top government official responsible for policing, said Tuesday that Carrick’s crimes were “a scar on our police.” An inquiry is ongoing into his behavior and decision-making processes around his vetting, she said.