Met officer from same unit as David Carrick and Wayne Couzens charged with rape

A former Metropolitan police officer who served in the same elite unit as David Carrick and Wayne Couzens has been charged with a series of 21 offences, including rapes and multiple counts of sexual assault.

Mark Tyrrell, 55, who was part of the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command, will appear at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday. The former police constable faces criminal allegations spanning across six years including two charges of rape and 15 of sexual assault.

As well as the two counts of rape, Tyrell is accused of 11 counts of sexual assault, four counts of sexual assault by penetration, three counts of perverting the course of justice and one count of misconduct in public office

He was a serving officer when the allegations first surfaced but retired last year during the criminal investigation into the claims against him. The charges all relate to one female victim he allegedly met through his duties as a police officer. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said on Monday the alleged offences occurred between 2017 and 2023.

He is charged with misconduct in public office for allegedly entering an inappropriate relationship with the woman after meeting her during his policing duties.

The criminal charges come after an investigation by the IOPC, the police watchdog, which said it was alleged he knew her to be in a vulnerable position upon entering the relationship.

Tyrrell also faces three counts of perverting the course of justice, relating to allegations he deleted messages, put pressure on the woman to provide false accounts and lied during interview while under caution.

The parliamentary and diplomatic protection command is an elite unit of the Met police whose members are usually armed. Their main duties include guarding embassies and other diplomatic buildings across London, as well as parliament.

Couzens, who is serving a whole-life sentence for the rape and murder of Sarah Everard, was an officer in the unit, as was Carrick, the serial rapist who received 36 life sentences last year.

Scotland Yard has said the two jailed officers did not work together and that there was no evidence they knew each other. There is no suggestion Tyrrell knew either of them.

The Met said: “Tyrrell was a police constable attached to the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command before he retired on 8 September 2023. Tyrrell was arrested in April 2023, while he was a serving officer, as part of an investigation by the Met’s directorate of professional standards.”