Wayne Couzens’ predatory sexual behaviour started 20 years before he raped and murdered Sarah Everard and he should never have been allowed to join the police, a damning inquiry has found.
A shocking new report has uncovered allegations that Couzens committed a very serious sexual assault against a child who was barely in her teens before his policing career even started.
Lady Elish Angiolini said the allegations were among five other incidents of sexual offending which were never reported to police and, due to under-reporting of sexual offences, she fears there may be even more victims.
Following his arrest for the abduction and murder of Ms Everard, police received reports of further sexual assaults – including an alleged kidnapping at knifepoint in North London in 1995 and two further alleged rapes in 2006 and 2019. No further action was taken due to “evidential difficulties”.
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The damning 350-page report published on Thursday morning detailed his “diverse and deviant” sexual interests, with evidence he showed friends and colleagues violent pornography and on at least two occasions shared unsolicited pictures of his genitals with young women.
She also found Couzens, who is also alleged to have possessed indecent images of children, paid female online retailers to masturbate into clothes and send them to him.
It has also called for a fundamental change to how police respond to indecent exposure after repeated incidents linked to Couzens were not properly investigated.
The inquiry found eight occasions in which alleged incidents of alleged indecent exposure were reported to police between 2008 and 2021 – prior to Ms Everard’s murder – but not one led to his arrest and prosecution. A further incident, dating to 2004, was reported after her death.
Lady Elish said: “Wayne Couzens should never have been a police officer. And, without a significant overhaul, there is nothing to stop another Wayne Couzens operating in plain sight.”
Dame Elish Angiolini has looked at whether potential risks posed by Wayne Couzens were missed during his policing career (Metropolitan Police/PA)
(PA Media)
Couzens was a serving Metropolitan Police officer when he kidnapped, raped and murdered Ms Everard, 33, three years ago as she was walking home in Clapham, south London.
The horrifying crime shocked the nation and led to a widespread outpouring of grief, thrusting issues of police corruption and violence against women and girls into the spotlight.
Lady Elish added: “I would urge all those in authority in every police force to read this and take immediate action.
“Sarah’s parents and loved ones live in the perpetual grief and pain of having lost Sarah in this way.
“Her death, and the public discourse it caused, should galvanise those responsible for policing to make sure something like this can never happen again.”
Responding to the report in a rare statement – Ms Everard’s devastated family said it was “obvious” that Couzens should never have been a police officer.
“Whilst holding a position of trust, in reality he was a serial sex offender. Warning signs were overlooked throughout his career and opportunities to confront him were missed,” the family said.
“We believe that Sarah died because he was a police officer – she would never have got into a stranger’s car.”
The statement from Sue, Jeremy, Katie and James Everard paid tribute to Sarah, a marketing executive, ahead of the third anniversary of her death on Sunday.
“We no longer wait for her call; we no longer expect to see her. We know she won’t be there at family gatherings. But the desperate longing to have her with us pervades every part of our lives,” they said.
People gathered to pay their respects at a vigil on Clapham Common after her death
(Getty Images)
The independent inquiry, commissioned by former Home Secretary Priti Patel, sets out 16 key recommendations to government and policing leaders to prevent other officers from abusing their position of trust in “such a heinous way” again.
It was found that Couzens “carefully managed” the impression he gave of himself to people, “manipulated information” on application forms and only shared his callous views of women with a very small group of “like-minded” people.
Couzens failed at interview when he applied to join Kent Police in 2004, but was allowed to join as a special constable in 2006, before failing again to gain vetting clearance in 2008.
It was also found that he should not have been allowed to join the Civil Nuclear Constabulary in 2011 because of his troubled finances. Thames Valley Police, to whom the force outsourced vetting, recommended he should not pass because he had an Individual Voluntary Arrangement – but this recommendation was not followed.
His initial vetting to join the Met in 2018 was also flawed after the outcome of a Police National Database check was recorded as ‘no trace’ despite him being reported missing in 2013 and his car being linked to an incident of indecent exposure in 2015.
This was missed yet again when he applied to serve as an authorised firearms officer with the force the following year.
He went on to use his knowledge and police powers to falsely arrest Ms Everard, who he raped and strangled before dumping her body in a woodland near Ashford.
Shockingly – even after he was exposed as a killer – the Met told the inquiry in 2022 they would still have recruited him if they were provided the same information again.
“I found this astonishing,” Lady Elish said. “I make a number of recommendations to improve recruitment and vetting – covering everything from in person interviews, and home visits for new recruits, to improvements for information sharing around transfers.”
Sarah Everard was raped and killed as she walked home in south London on 3 March 2021 (Family handout/CPS/PA)
(PA Media)
She added that allegations of indecent exposure were treated as “low level” by investigating officers.
In 2015 someone reported a man driving Couzens’ car while indecently exposing himself to Kent Police. A further report was made about a “masturbatory incident” towards a cyclist down a narrow country lane in 2020.
While just days before he abducted Ms Everard he was reported for exposing himself at a drive-through in London.
The report also noted the police working environment “did nothing to discourage his misogynistic view of women”, which allowed his deviant behaviour outside of work to flourish.
More follows on this breaking news story…