Wayne Couzens was a “prolific sex offender with a warrant card” who was never fit to serve as a police officer, the Prime Minister said on Thursday after a report into the killer revealed he had committed crimes over a period of nearly 20 years.
Rishi Sunak said he was “sickened” by new revelations that Couzens sexually assaulted a child, tried to kidnap a woman at knifepoint and was reported to police eight times for exposing himself in the years before he kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard.
A long-awaited report by Dame Elish Angiolini into Couzens, published on Thursday, showed he had a long history of sexual offending dating back to 1995 but had never been arrested or prosecuted and was able to pass police vetting and become an armed officer with both the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) and the Met.
Lady Elish said there had been a “lamentable and repeated failure” to deal with allegations reported to police before Ms Everard’s murder in south London in March 2021.
Mr Sunak said: “This was a chilling, abominable crime that shook the country to its very core. Sarah’s murderer was a prolific sex offender carrying a valid warrant card. He was never fit to serve.
“Police officers should be there to keep us safe – to be our guardians against those who wish to do us harm. That is why Sarah trusted him and his betrayal of that trust makes his crime even more heinous.
“I am sickened by the details that have come to light today and the police must urgently make changes to earn that trust back. No woman should ever feel unsafe on our streets.”
Lady Elish also said there were “major red flags and missed opportunities to halt Wayne Couzens’s career and bring him to justice”.
Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Commissioner, said the report was an “urgent call to action”, adding: “We must go further and faster, to earn back the trust of all those whose confidence in policing has been shaken by events of recent years.”
He added: “Regardless of our significant progress over the past year, the scale of the change that is needed inevitably means it will take time and it is not yet complete. The majority of my Met colleagues share my determination to reform by both confronting the risk posed by predatory men in policing, and also, improving our protection of women and children across London.”
In a 347-page report, Lady Elish reveals how Couzens’s first interactions with police date back to 1995 when he allegedly tried to kidnap a woman at knifepoint in north London.
The incident was reported to police on the day but the perpetrator was never caught.
The woman came forward to police after seeing photographs of Couzens following his arrest for the murder of Ms Everard.
The report also reveals how when he was in his early 20s, Couzens was suspected of committing a “very serious sexual assault of a child barely in her teens”.
The report said the sexual assault provided an “important link in the chain of events” leading up to the abduction, rape and murder of Ms Everard.
Couzens stopping Miss Everard in the street before abducting her
He was also accused of possessing indecent images of children, and in 2004 exposed himself towards a teenage girl in south London by driving past her while masturbating.
The offence was not reported but the woman later came forward when she recognised Couzens in the media.
At some point between late 2006 and early 2007, Couzens is suspected of attempting to rape a woman at a singles night in an east London bar. The victim again came forward after the murder of Ms Everard. There was another allegation of rape in October 2019 which took place under a bridge in London.
In the summer of 2019, Couzens also sexually assaulted a man in a bar in Kent. The complainant was in drag and wearing a blonde wig when Couzens grabbed him inappropriately.
When the victim remonstrated with him, Couzens said he was a police officer and invited him outside to perform a sex act. The man came forward to police following Couzens’s arrest for the kidnap, rape and murder of Ms Everard. There were also a string of allegations of indecent exposures, some of which were reported to police but not fully investigated.
In November 2008, Couzens exposed himself to a woman in south London and while the offence was reported at the time no suspect was identified.
In 2015, while working for the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, Couzens again exposed himself but despite the victims providing police with his car registration, he was never arrested or charged.
The inquiry concluded that the failure to investigate this offence fully was a “red flag and a missed opportunity to disrupt or even prevent further offending by Couzens”.
Following the murder of Ms Everard, Couzens pleaded guilty to three further indecent exposures, including two offences committed at a branch of McDonald’s in Swanley, Kent, just days earlier.
Lady Elish said the investigations into these offences had been of “poor quality and inadequate”, with the officers displaying an “apathy and disinterest”.
She said in future all cases of indecent exposure that were reported “must be thoroughly and comprehensively investigated”. She went on: “Furthermore victims need to be encouraged to report and believe they have no reason for shame or embarrassment. These emotions should be left to the perpetrators to experience.”
Lady Elish said without a radical overhaul of policing practices and culture, there was “nothing to stop another Couzens operating in plain sight”.
James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, said Couzens’s crimes were not a reflection on the majority of police officers.
But he said: “Sarah was failed in more ways than one by the people who were meant to keep her safe.”
He said the report laid bare wider issues in policing and society that needed to be urgently fixed.
“In the three years since, a root and stem clean-up of the policing workforce has been under way and we have made huge strides – as well as making tackling violence against women and girls a national policing priority to be treated on par with terrorism.
“But we will continue to do everything in our power to protect women and girls. I am grateful to Lady Elish for her meticulous investigation. Her insights will be invaluable as we move forward in supporting our police to build forces of the highest standards of integrity and regain the trust of the British public.”
Gavin Stephens, chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said hearing the inquiry’s findings had left him “aghast”.
“Listening this morning to Lady Elish Angiolini’s clear findings of a catalogue of missed opportunities and red flags left me aghast. Police leaders across the United Kingdom will feel the same and take this as an urgent call for action and a reminder of how far we still have to go.
“We are reviewing the recommendations in detail and I do not underestimate just how important this is for all of society.”
The report also identified a string of other potential red flags which should have been spotted by police in the years before the murder of Ms Everard.
In 2013, when he was working as a firearms officer with the CNC, he was reported missing for several hours.
The report said: “Couzens could have been driving around looking for a victim, in the same way as he did almost eight years later on the evening he abducted Sarah Everard and on other dates leading up to his crime.”
The report concluded that his unexplained disappearance should have been considered a warning sign when he was being vetted to join the Metropolitan Police.
In addition, there were vetting failures when Couzens applied to join both the CNC and the Met.
He managed to mask his desperate financial state and the fact he was so in debt that he had entered an Individual Voluntary Arrangement in order to avoid bankruptcy, which would have prevented him joining the police.
Presenting her findings, Lady Elish said: “The evidence seen by the inquiry has shown that failures in recruitment and vetting meant Couzens was able to continue a policing career which should have been denied to him.
“Failures investigations into allegations of indecent exposure meant opportunities to disrupt Couzens’ offending and bring his policing career to a halt were missed.” She went on: “The fact remains three separate police forces allowed him the privilege of being a police officer when they could and should have stopped him.”
Responding to the inquiry report, Ms Everard’s parents, Sue and Jeremy, and siblings, Katie and James Everard, said in a statement: “It is obvious Wayne 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. We believe Sarah died because he was a police officer – she would never have got into a stranger’s car.”
The family also called for all the recommendations to be made forthwith, adding: “We cannot get Sarah back, but positive changes give hope for the future and will be of benefit to others.”
Ms Everard was 33 when she vanished in Clapham, south-west London, on the way home from a friend’s house.
Miss Everard walking home from her friend’s flat on the night of her death
She was abducted by Couzens at half past nine on the evening of Mar 3 2021 after he stopped her on the street, showed her his warrant card and handcuffed her.
After putting her in the back of a white Vauxhall he had rented, he drove to a remote location in Sibertswold, Kent, and some point around midnight, raped her.
At 2am, Couzens was seen on CCTV buying a drink from a petrol station. At some stage in the past hour, he is believed to have strangled Ms Everard using his police issue belt.
Information Commissioner John Edwards, who contributed to the inquiry, said: “This inquiry paints a concerning picture of how disciplinary concerns about police officers and recruits are shared. There is no room to hide behind misconceptions of the law on such an important matter: data protection law does not stand in the way of police sharing information about a potential recruit’s previous disciplinary action or warnings, nor does it act as a shield against investigations into police officers.
“There is a need for greater transparency here. The public have a right to understand how information will be shared to encourage trust in high standards of policing, and police officers have a right to understand how their information will be shared.”
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