36 notorious criminals jailed in the UK in February

An 'evil' rapist police officer who carried out brutal sex attacks on a dozen victims and a woman obsessed with true crime documentaries who stabbed her on-off partner to death were just two of the worst offenders sent to jail in the UK last month.

Other offenders facing lengthy jail terms include two men who robbed Olympic cyclist Mark Cavendish and his wife Peta of high-value watches in a knifepoint raid and a travel agent who pretended she had cancer as part of a £2.6 million con.

A violent rapist who falsely claimed he was related to boxing champion Tyson Fury and a Berlin embassy spy who sold secrets to Russia were also locked up in February.

READ MORE: Dad 'tortured to death', the fraud doctor and violent ex: The criminals locked up in Greater Manchester in February

These are some of the most shocking court cases that have been widely reported in the UK in recent weeks.

Rapist Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick used his job to take “monstrous advantage of women”, according to the judge that jailed him for a minimum of 30 years. The disgraced 48-year-old Pc, who was described as a “monster” and “evil” by some of his dozen victims, carried out a “catalogue of violent and brutal” sex attacks between 2003 and 2020.

Carrick, who joined the Met in 2001 before becoming an armed officer with the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command in 2009, used his position to gain the women’s trust and scare them into silence. He held a handgun to the head of one of his victims and sent another a photograph of himself with a work-issue firearm, saying: “Remember I am the boss.”

In a televised sentencing hearing at Southwark Crown Court, Carrick was handed 36 life sentences, with a minimum term of 32 years – minus