POLICE forces have been asked to check all officers against national police databases to identify suspected sexual predators following the sacking of serial rapist David Carrick.

The Home Office said on Wednesday that the measure will identify those who “slipped through the net” before vetting practices were toughened up. 

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has also asked the College of Policing to strengthen the statutory code of practice for police vetting, making the obligations all forces must legally follow stricter and clearer.

The move comes after Mr Carrick was formally sacked from the Metropolitan Police on Tuesday after pleading guilty to dozens of rapes and sexual offences against 12 women over almost two decades.

The 49-year-old, known by his colleagues as “bastard Dave,” called his victims “slaves” and locked them in cupboards without food, the court heard. 

Mr Carrick remained in the police despite multiple allegations being made against him over a 21-year period, including rape, domestic violence and harassment. 

PM Rishi Sunak described the former officer’s crimes on Wednesday as “truly sickening” and promised to push for police reform to ensure offenders have “no place to hide.” 

Earlier, a police watchdog was criticised by MPs for denying that the police force is “institutionally sexist” after home affairs select committee chairwoman Diana Johnson described the force in such terms following the revelations around Mr Carrick. 

Grilled on the issue by MPs, Andy Cooke, the chief inspector of constabulary and fire and rescue services, told the committee there were “significant issues in relation to sexism” in policing, but refused to say this amounted to a cultural issue.

Explaining why, the former Merseyside police officer said that 40 per cent of the force is made up of female officers.

But Labour MP Diane Abbott, a member of the committee, argued that the increase in the number of female officers “does not mean that you cannot have a force which remains institutionally sexist.” 

Raising the issue of record low prosecution rates for rape, Tory MP James Daley also criticised the police watchdog, saying some of his comments “appear to be not an impartial assessment of the police but actually a defence of the police.”

Mr Cooke denied that he was being defensive but admitted that the handling of rape cases was a “disgrace.” 

On Wednesday, Tory minister Robert Jenrick said he supported a bid by London Mayor Sadiq Khan to strip Mr Carrick of his £22,000-a-year pension.