In disturbingly similar circumstances, a London cop from the same VIP protection unit as Sarah Everard's murderer has been charged with rape.The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) issued a statement late Sunday saying an officer from its Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command had been arrested for rape in Hertfordshire on Saturday.PC David Carrick, 46, will appear virtually at Hatfield Remand Court on Monday, 4 October, after being formally charged on Sunday.The Met said the incident had been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.Wayne Couzens, an officer from the same unit, was off-duty and in plainclothes when he kidnapped Sarah Everard on Clapham Common in southwestern London in March on a pretext of arresting her for a breach of emergency COVID-19 regulations. Couzens raped and strangled Everard and set fire to her body in an old refrigerator in a woodland area near Ashford in Kent. On Thursday, he was handed a rare full life sentence for his crimes.Everard's murder prompted renewed protests by women and many others and calls for all serving officers to be re-vetted.Earlier on Sunday, House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle confirmed in a statement that Couzens had previously been on duty at Parliament, but said the officer had never been issued a permanent security pass for the building."I have asked the Metropolitan Police to meet me urgently to discuss how this person could have been deemed suitable for deployment here," he added. "I will be seeking reassurance that at no time was anyone on the Parliamentary Estate put at risk".
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