The London Metropolitan Police is investigating 1,000 sexual and domestic abuse claims involving about 800 of its officers.

Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley (small picture) apologized for failures and announced all 45,000 Met officers and staff would be rechecked for previously missed offending.

It comes after PC David Carrick pleaded guilty to 49 offences, including dozens of rapes.

"We have failed. And I'm sorry. He shouldn't have been a police officer," Rowley said.

"This man abused women in the most disgusting manner. It is sickening. We've let women and girls down, and indeed we've let Londoners down. The women who suffered and survived this violence have been unimaginably brave and courageous in coming forward .

"I also understand that this will lead to some women across London questioning whether they can trust the Met to keep them safe.

"We haven't applied the same sense of ruthlessness to guarding our own integrity that we routinely apply to confronting criminals."

Domestic violence

The Met said a total of 1,633 cases of alleged sexual offences or domestic violence involving 1,071 officers and other staff were being reviewed from the last 10 years to make sure the appropriate decisions were made.

Carrick committed the offences against 12 women across two decades.

It emerged he had been accused of two offences against a former partner the year before he joined the Met in 2001, and faced further assault and harassment claims against an ex-girlfriend in 2002, while still in his probationary period.

A spokesman for the prime minister Rishi Sunak said high-profile cases such as Carrick's had "shattered" the public's trust in policing.