A serving police officer accused of raping a woman he met on dating app Tinder has been remanded in custody.

Pc David Carrick, 46, “emphatically denies” assaulting the woman after the pair went for drinks in St Albans, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard on Monday.

Carrick is alleged to have taken the woman, who he met on the dating app in August 2020, back to a Premier Inn after visiting two pubs in the Hertfordshire town.

The alleged attack is said to have taken place the following morning.

Carrick, who has been suspended from duty as a Metropolitan Police officer with the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, was arrested on Saturday before being charged on Sunday.

The woman is said to have come forward to police after widespread media reports of the case of Wayne Couzens, the Met PC who raped and murdered Sarah Everard.

Carrick appeared by videolink from a police station in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, wearing a white collared shirt, and spoke only to confirm his identity.

Ryan Dowding, defending, confirmed his client had been suspended from duty and said: “He emphatically denies the allegations.”

Carrick, of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, was remanded in custody is next due to appear at St Albans Crown Court on November 1.

Commissioner Cressida Dick said yesterday, when the charge was announced: ‘I am deeply concerned to hear the news today that an officer from the Met’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command has been arrested and now charged with this serious offence. I fully recognise the public will be very concerned too.’