A DAMNING report on how cops missed red flags about killer police officer Wayne Couzens is due to be published in just hours.
The former armed Metropolitan police officer will never be released from prison after he abducted, raped and murdered marketing executive Sarah Everard in March 2021.
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A report on the first part of a Home Office-commissioned inquiry into his policing career by Dame Elish Angiolini is set to be published on Thursday.
The 51-year-old used his status as a police officer to trick Sarah, 33, into thinking he could arrest her for breaking lockdown rules in place at the time.
After the harrowing killing, it emerged there had been concerns about Couzens’ behaviour while he was a police officer, with reports he was nicknamed “the rapist”.
He joined Kent Police as a special constable in 2002, became an officer with the Civil Nuclear constabulary in 2011 and then moved to the Met in 2018.
Couzens indecently exposed himself three times before the murder, including twice at a drive-through fast food restaurant in Kent in the days before the killing.
He was not caught despite driving his own car and using his own credit card at the time.
Then-Met Police constable Samantha Lee was sacked and barred from being a police officer after it was found she had not properly investigated the incidents.
Couzens was also later revealed to have been part of a WhatsApp group with fellow officers that shared disturbing racist, homophobic and misogynist remarks.
Where is Wayne Couzens now?
Sarah’s murderer is serving his life sentence at HMP Frankland in Durham.
He had previously been locked up at HMP Belmarsh in London.
Ex-cop Couzens pleaded guilty to the murder of Sarah on Friday, July 9, 2021, after having previously pleaded guilty to her kidnap and rape.
Couzens appeared via video link at the Old Bailey as Sarah’s family watched from the public gallery.
Then, on September 30, 2021, Couzens was given a full life sentence for Sarah’s murder and was told that he would die in prison.
Just 61 criminals in the UK have had this sentence imposed, with Couzens being the first British cop to ever receive it.
Lord Justice Fulford explained at the time that the rare sentencing was given due to the fact Couzens had abused his position as a police officer.
The judge said: “Sarah Everard was a wholly blameless victim of a grotesquely executed series of circumstances that culminated in her death and the disposal of her body. She was simply walking home.”
He told how Couzens spent a month travelling from his home in Deal, Kent, to London while hatching a gruesome plan to “hunt a lone female to kidnap and rape”.
Lord Justice Fulford said Couzens carried out “warped, selfish and brutal offending that was both sexual and homicidal”.
He added: “Sarah Everard’s state of mind, and what she had to endure would have been as bleak and agonising as it is possible to imagine.”
In October 2021 it was reported that Couzens had lodged an appeal against his sentence.
His appeal against his whole-life term was rejected by the Court of Appeal in July 2022.
In March 2023 Couzens was sentenced to an additional 19 months in prison for flashing a cyclist while on duty and exposing himself to McDonald’s staff before he murdered Sarah.
He pleaded guilty to three indecent exposure offences in February 2023.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
McDonald’s staff were left “shaken, upset and angry” over two incidents, which took place on February 14, 2021, and February 27, of Couzens pulling his trousers down whilst paying for his food.
The third indecent exposure offence took place on November 13, 2020, and saw Couzens, who was on duty at the time, step out of a wooded area naked in Deal and perform a sex act on himself as a female cycled past.
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KEY EVENTS IN WAYNE COUZENS’ POLICING CAREER AND THE FALLOUT OF HIS CRIMES
Wayne Couzens served in three police forces before he murdered Sarah Everard and was sentenced to die in prison.
Concerns were raised about his behaviour at various points before the killing, including when he exposed himself to women and his demeanour at work, with claims that he was nicknamed “the rapist”.
Here is a timeline of events concerning the former police officer:
2002: Couzens joins the Kent Special Constabulary.
2015: Kent Police allegedly fail to investigate an indecent exposure incident linked to Couzens.
September 2018: Couzens transfers to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) where he had worked since 2011.
2019: Couzens and his wife buy a small area of woodland off Fridd Lane in Ashford, Kent.
February 2019: The Pc joins a response team covering the Bromley area of south London, having initially served in a Safer Neighbourhood Team.
February 2020: He moves to the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command to patrol diplomatic premises, mainly embassies.
November 13, 2020: He steps out of a woodland area in Deal, Kent, naked and masturbates as a woman cycles past.
February 14 and 27, 2021: Couzens exposes himself to two female staff members at a drive-through fast food restaurant in Kent. He used his own credit card to pay and was driving his own car.
February 28, 2021: Couzens books a white Vauxhall Astra from a car hire firm in Dover, Kent, using his personal details and bank card.
March 2, 2021: 7pm: Couzens starts a 12-hour shift at his base in West Brompton, west London.
March 3, 2021: Then-Met Pc Samantha Lee goes to the fast food restaurant but does not trace Couzens’ car, despite the restaurant manager claiming his registration number is visible in CCTV footage. She is later sacked and barred from working as a police officer.
Later that evening Couzens uses his status as a police officer to trick Miss Everard into thinking she can be arrested for breaking lockdown rules in place at the time. After murdering her, Couzens hides her body in woodland near Ashford in Kent.
March 9, 2021: Couzen’s phone is wiped of all data about 40 minutes before he is arrested on suspicion of murder. In a brief interview, he tells a false story about being threatened by an Eastern European gang.
July 9, 2021: Couzens pleads guilty to murder when he appears at the Old Bailey by video link from Belmarsh high security jail.
September 30, 2021: Couzens receives a whole life order when he is sentenced, with Lord Justice Fulford justifying the punishment because the murderer’s use of his position as a police officer to detain Ms Everard was the “vital factor”.
October 2021: Couzens applies for leave to appeal against his sentence.
November 2021: The Home Office establishes an independent inquiry led by Dame Elish Angiolini to look at Ms Everard’s murder, with the first part focusing on Couzens and whether any potential risks or red flags were missed during his time in the police.
March 2022: Couzens is charged with four counts of indecent exposure over alleged incidents in January and February 2021.
July 2022: The Court of Appeal rejects his appeal against his sentence.
February 13, 2023: Couzens pleads guilty to three counts of indecent exposure in Kent between November 2020 and February 2021.
March 6, 2023: He is sentenced to 19 months for the offences, although he is already serving a whole life jail term for Miss Everard’s murder and will never be released.
March 21, 2023: The Casey Review, commissioned by the Met in the wake of Miss Everard’s murder, finds that the force is institutionally racist, homophobic and misogynist, and that there may be more officers like Couzens and rapist David Carrick in its ranks.
May 2023: Watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct calls for a national system to ensure all forces are told about criminal allegations made against serving officers, in light of the indecent exposure accusations against Couzens.
February 29, 2024: A report on the first part of the Angiolini Inquiry, looking at incidents during his career and whether red flags were missed, is published.