A settled claim over a 2004 attack

Linda Williams, 60, was raped in 2004 by David Carrick, a Metropolitan Police officer who had served as an armed officer. Carrick, now 51, is serving 37 life sentences, according to LBC, after pleading guilty in 2022 and 2023 to 71 sexual offences, among them 48 rapes of 12 other women over 17 years. BBC reporting says he was jailed for life in 2023 over offences against Williams and 11 other women, so the victim count differs between outlets. Williams, who once supported victims of sexual offences as a police officer, reported the attack in 2021. Her civil claim against the force has now been settled for an undisclosed six-figure sum, and the Met paid without accepting liability.

Her account of the force's response

Williams says the Met's handling of her case felt like being raped again. She has post-traumatic stress disorder linked to the attack, and she told the BBC that the lengthy civil case left her feeling suicidal. She recalls the most painful moment came when lawyers for the commissioner questioned how serious her PTSD was, given that she had been attacked only once. Speaking to LBC, she said that despite her own training as a sexual offences officer, she would still not report a rape to the police, citing a lack of empathy and support from the force. She also alleged that the Met was at fault for her inability to report the attack in 2004, and that little had changed in the culture since then. She described the force as being like a television drama about the past.

Calls for Rowley to resign

Williams is now publicly calling on Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley to step down. She argues that he has not delivered the culture change he promised when he took the top job in 2022, and she says she still does not trust the force to handle cases like hers.

“For this to happen Rowley needs to go and we need a new commissioner.”

She wants the Met to set up a unit overseen by rape victims who understand what the experience involves. Rowley took the post with a pledge to change the force, which at the time was viewed as in crisis after the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer and other scandals. After Carrick was jailed in January 2023, Rowley praised the victims and said the following.

“We have failed and I'm sorry. He should not have been a police officer.”

Two months after Carrick's jailing, an official report by Baroness Casey described the Met as a boys' club that was institutionally misogynistic and had failed women.

The Met's response and what followed

The Met told the BBC it tried to reduce further distress and re-traumatisation for Williams and aimed to deal with her claims as quickly and compassionately as possible. The force also acknowledged that the additional harm she suffered stemmed from her working inside the Met, and it commended her public service despite the trauma she experienced. Williams contacted the BBC after watching a 2025 Panorama report into a hidden culture of misogyny and racism within the force. Her solicitor, Sophie Bullimore of Penningtons Manches Cooper, said the impact on Williams's mental health and daily life remains clear more than 20 years after the attack.