Sinister WhatsApp messages show cop Wayne Couzens joking about rape with colleagues prior to Sarah Everard's murder
6 March 2023, 22:55 | Updated: 29 February 2024, 07:48
Shocking Whatsapp messages have been released showing predatory cop Wayne Couzens joking with Met colleagues about rape and the sexual assault of domestic violence survivors two years prior to murdering Sarah Everard.
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Wayne Couzens was a member of the WhatsApp group chat, posting alongside a number of other serving police officers, including PC Jonathon Cobban and PC Joel Borders - both of whom were jailed for three months for the messages in November.
The slew of messages had not previously been released due to Couzens' ongoing court case, with the former officer sentenced to 19 months on Monday for exposing himself to three women in 2020 and 2021.
The shocking messages follow the release of footage showing the moment the killer cop drove up to staff at a McDonald's drive-thru and flashed them - just days before murdering Sarah Everard.
Couzens' 19 month additional sentence relates to incidents which took place prior to the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in Clapham, South London.
The messages were only found on Couzens' phone after he was arrested for her murder.
Labelled 'Bottles & Stoppers' and 'Atkin's puppets', the WhatsApp chats contained offensive slurs and remarks relating to women, race, violence, sexual orientation, rape and disability.
After their discovery, the chat saw four other officers - PC Gary Bailey, PC Matthew Forster, PC William Neville and PC Daniel Comfort - lose their jobs over the shocking messages.
On 21 March 2019, Cobban told the group he had been called out to an unconscious woman who had been drinking, with Couzens replying: 'Did you finger her to see if she was ok?'
Cobban then replied: 'I considered it. But she was a right old lump. So I just raped a bystander instead.'
Later that year, on 21 June 2019, Couzens messaged the group: 'Mate they aren't gonna ditch you with your skills sets, unless you finger a DV [domestic violence] victim! Oh, Jon, in that case you're probably f****d.'
Cobban then replied: 'That's alright, DV victims love it* that's why they are repeat victims more often than not.'
Racist slurs featured among the extensive list of messages posted to the chat, with Couzens posting on 29 June 2019: 'You can add Peckham to that list. I was on CVTF [Violent Crime Task Force] the other shift in Peckham, another Somalia village!!!!'
CCTV shows Wayne Couzens McDonald's drive-thru in Swanley days before rape and murder of Sarah Everard
Couzens exposed himself twice - on February 14 and 27 2021 - in front of horrified McDonald's workers at the Swanley service station, Kent.
Some of the women involved in the incidents slammed police during their victim statements, with one woman telling the Old Bailey: "If he had been held accountable when we had reported the crime, we could have saved Sarah."
On her view of police, another victim added: "I do not like to tar everyone with the same brush but it has been difficult not to do so after knowing what he did for a living and knowing I could have come across him in uniform and not known what he was capable of."
Police said they were "sorry" that he was not caught before he raped and murdered Ms Everard.
Wayne Couzens sentenced for flashing at women
CCTV showed Couzens placing his order for cheeseburgers at the drive-thru before queuing to collect it.
Moments later a female member of staff saw him with his "trousers pulled down to his knees" at the serving window.
He sat in his car and looked straight at them as he showed his erect penis while handing his card to pay for food.
A senior judge said: "The female staff were shaken, upset and angry."
Addressing police failures, they added: "The fact that no police came to find him or his black car, to question him about these incidents, can only have served to confirm and strengthen, in the defendant's mind, a dangerous belief in his invincibility, in his power sexually to dominate and abuse women without being stopped."
The former Metropolitan Police officer, 50, is already serving a whole life jail sentence for the murder of Ms Everard, 33.
In March 2021, Couzens, then a serving officer, snatched marketing executive Ms Everard as she walked home in south London.
DAC Stuart Cundy, who leads the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards, said: “Today’s sentencing reflects the impact these awful crimes committed by Couzens’ has had on the women he targeted.
“I have read the victim impact statements and it is clear to me the hurt and trauma that he inflicted on them. It is their courage that has been crucial in bringing him to justice and I am sorry for what they have gone through.
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“Like so many, I wish he had been arrested for these offences before he went on to kidnap, rape and murder Sarah Everard and I am sorry that he wasn’t.
“The Met’s response to these crimes has been independently investigated. One officer is due to face a misconduct hearing and the events surrounding the death of Sarah Everard will be examined by the Coroner.
“The fact he did this whilst serving as a police officer has brought shame on all us who swore to protect the communities we serve.
“My thoughts today are with all those targeted by Wayne Couzens and Sarah Everard’s family.”
After the hearing, the police watchdog published a report showing Couzens making comments about women in a WhatsApp group with other serving police officers.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said the messages contained "racist and homophobic comments, and derogatory remarks, aimed at domestic abuse victims, people with disabilities and women".
