Current and former police officers probed over handling of police rapist David Carrick

The Independent Office for Police Conduct has been looking into why the Metropolitan Police failed to properly investigate allegations made against Carrick on four separate occasions.

He joined the Met in 2001 and became an armed officer with the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command eight years later.

WATCH: David Carrick jailed earlier this year

Now, five serving Met officers along with a former Met Officer, now serving with the City of London force and two retired Met officers have been told by the IOPC that they are under investigation for gross misconduct.

A serving Met staff member and a Met police constable have been told they are under investigation for misconduct.

The IOPC say they may have breached the police standards of professional behaviour by failing in their duty to “adequately explore, investigate, supervise or oversee investigations into allegations made against David Carrick while he was a serving police officer.”

IOPC regional director Mel Palmer said: “Our thoughts remain with all the women who were victims of David Carrick and reported this offending.

“After carrying out an initial scoping review of police handling of allegations against Carrick earlier this year, we made the decision to launch investigations into multiple alleged failings of police officers and staff who assessed and/or investigated allegations made against him.

“If these matters had been adequately progressed, Carrick could potentially have faced gross misconduct proceedings and been dismissed from the police service years before he was eventually arrested.

“While we’ve notified a number of officers that they are under investigation, this does not mean that disciplinary proceedings will automatically follow.

"At the end of each investigation, we will determine whether any individuals should face disciplinary proceedings.

“From our scoping review, we’ve also identified a number of learning opportunities for individual forces as well as national recommendations which we are currently progressing.”

The IOPC has also confirmed that two Wiltshire officers are also being investigated after concerns that Wiltshire Police failed to properly investigate a report made against Carrick in 2016.