We must pay tribute to the bravery of the 12 women who spoke out against David Carrick.

In amongst all the finger pointing as to whose fault it is that David Carrick continued years of sexually motivated crimes, remain 12 women who courageously came forward and spoke out against him. This must have been one of the bravest acts possible.

These 12 women endured some of the most horrendous crimes possible. Listening to his sentencing yesterday by Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb who also sentenced Jordan McSweeney, Zara Aleena’s murderer, the depth of his sexually motivated crimes made you feel pretty sick to the stomach.

Justice Cheema-Grubb also went on to call out the malign influence of serial rapists like this. She slammed Carrick for being ‘untouchable’ and his sheer arrogance is clearly visible in the video footage released by Hertfordshire police.

This morning, those 12 women will feel a small sense of relief that this revolting individual has been handed out 36 life sentences and a minimum of 32 year’s imprisonment.

Carrick’s life is now behind bars, but those 12 women will live with the scars he mentally and physically inflicted on them, for the rest of their lives. The trauma they have been through stays with them. No apology will ever heal that.

Women fear for their safety everyday. The list of scenarios that women do not feel safe in grows daily and cases such as Carrick sadly do not shock women anymore. Most of us actually say: ‘Another one caught’.

What must be identified is the culture that allows sick individuals like Carrick to thrive. There are many places in our society where men like this gather and continue to carry out depraved acts against women. This is where change needs to happen and happen fast. Women have heard apologies repeatedly, what they want are systematic changes that need to be made to society and ultimately to be heard.

Many police officers have been calling out the appalling behaviour of David Carrick and most have been equally sickened by his heinous crimes. There are so many officers out on our BCU’s this morning that do understand the damage this individual has done. They will do their job once again to the best of their ability and will try their best to bridge the gaps with their communities. It is these officers that as always, pay the price for the sins of others.

Cases such as this unite women right across the country, as we all stand together against violence. Sadly we know Carrick will not be the last and until society changes so many of its ways, men will carry on.

Let us remember those 12 very brave women who came forward.

Let us also spare a thought for those police officers out on the ground who are equally just as sickened by these crimes as we are and do genuinely understand the damage Carrick has caused and will try their best to make amends.

We must work together as a community and as society to make these changes now,

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