A Metropolitan Police officer faces an eight-week trial next February accused of 44 offences, including 21 counts of rape, against a dozen women over a 17-year period.

Pc David Carrick, an armed officer who served with the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command and worked on the parliamentary estate, appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday by video link from Belmarsh prison.

He spoke to confirm his name before pleading not guilty to 15 charges, including eight counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration, four counts of sexual assault and attempted rape against five women.

The charges include allegations that Carrick, who has been suspended by the Met, raped one woman in the woods and sexually assaulted her by urinating on her and hitting her with a belt.

He has previously denied 29 other charges and now faces a total of 44 counts between March 2004 and September 2020.

They are: 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 one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

The indictment alleges that some women were repeatedly raped, sexually assaulted and forced to perform degrading sex acts by Carrick, while one woman is said to have been falsely imprisoned in a cupboard under the stairs.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb set a trial date of February 6 at Southwark Crown Court with a time estimate of eight weeks.

The judge said: “This is a substantial trial of very serious criminal charges. The issue in the case is going to be centrally consent in respect of the dozen complainants.”

Carrick, who sat behind a desk with his hands clasped in front of his face throughout a hearing which lasted just over half an hour, was remanded in custody.

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