Key moments
Wayne Couzens was reported to police eight times before he went on to murder Sarah Everard in March 2021, a report has found.
Included among a litany of damning disclosures published on Thursday by the independent Angiolini Inquiry were revelations that Couzens had been reported for kidnap and the sexual assault of a child.
Murder ‘prompted turning point in society’
Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth, the national police lead for violence against women and girls, has said that Sarah Everard’s murder “at the hands of a police officer will remain one of the darkest days in policing history”.
“What followed, I believe, was a watershed moment, a turning point, in policing and society,” she told a National Police Chiefs’ Council press conference. “We know more needs to be done to radically reduce violence against women and girls. It’s an endemic issue for all of us. These crimes have to be treated as a national threat on the same level of counterterrorism and organised crime.”
Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, said: “There is nothing we can say to the family of Sarah Everard or those who loved her to convey how deeply sorry we are. Wayne Couzens’ crimes were horrific and he should not have been a police officer. What this report lays bare, and it’s ghastly, but it lays bare a very low base that we’re starting from. While those improvements have started, we have a long way to go to build the high degree of resilience and strength to reduce to an absolute minimum the threat.
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“What Lady Elish [Angiolini] has done really powerfully is lay out this is what the gold standard looks like, this is what we’ve got to aim at and we will collectively work out what it takes to get there.”
Women’s confidence in police ‘has been shaken’
The head of the Metropolitan Police has acknowledged that the confidence of women and children in the police has been “shaken” by the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer.
Sir Mark Rowley was addressing the public in a meeting of police chiefs following the publication of a report into the missed opportunities to stop Wayne Couzens. “I need to reassure women and children in London that we really get this,” he said. “This has shaken your confidence in us. We understand that and we’re not going to stop taking step by step forward until we are completely on top of this issue.”
He also acknowledged that police forces must do more to tackle “toxic” WhatsApp groups among officers. “What we have to be better at doing is identifying those subsets, those toxic groups like the WhatsApp group he [Couzens] was a part of,” Rowley said. “We have to find a way into those groups to identify them and take them out the organisation. We are going to be relentless about this.”
Rowley insists progress is being made
The report into the killer of Sarah Everard has set the “gold standard” of what needs to be done by police forces going forward, the Metropolitan Police commissioner has said.
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Sir Mark Rowley, who heads up the force where Wayne Couzens was employed, said the findings painted a stark picture but insisted progress was being made.
In a National Police Chiefs’ Council press conference, Chief Constable Simon Chesterman of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary added: “Wayne Couzens should not have been in the police service and we unreservedly apologise.”
Chief Constable Gavin Stephens said he was “aghast” at the red flags that were missed before Everard was murdered. “His [Couzens’] offending should have been stopped sooner and this should have never happened,” he said. “I apologise to any woman or girl that has fallen victim to abuse by a police officer.”
Procedures are now ‘radically’ different, say police
Alleged victims who accuse people of indecent exposure in Kent are assigned specialist officers to help with their case, the force has said.
Peter Ayling, deputy chief constable of Kent police, was responding to criticism by Lady Elish Angiolini over the force’s failure to identify Wayne Couzens as the perpetrator of a flashing incident in 2015.
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Ayling said: “We accept the findings and the recommendations. It has been a watershed moment for policing and I’m determined that we have learnt the lessons and things are radically different now to the sometimes quite alarming conclusions that have been drawn by Lady Angiolini.”
Outlining the changes made since the murder of Sarah Everard, Ayling said: “Things have changed quite markedly at the time it was investigated by an officer without specialist training and there wasn’t sufficient regard given to potentially similar offences that might have occurred.
“That’s very, very different now. Anyone reporting an indecent exposure today will have access to a specialist officer. There is oversight of a specialist detective and we also use analysis to make sure that we identify emerging trends and patterns.”
He added: “It’s a matter of great regret that wasn’t the case in 2015. I understand we let down the victims that were identified in the report for that and to people more widely affected I offer my apology.”
Over 1,000 Met officers suspended or on restricted duties
Improved vetting procedures designed to root out rogue police officers was another key recommendation in Lady Angiolini’s report.
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Scotland Yard, however, had already begun the difficult process of overhauling its culture and standards after a slew of damaging scandals.
More than 1,000 officers are either suspended or on restricted duties as a result of efforts to rid the force of those who have “corrupted” its integrity.
That is one in 34 officers or, as the deputy assistant commissioner who announced the figures last year pointed out, “nearly the size of a small police force in other places in the country”.
Hampshire PCC: All police officers have been re-vetted
Serving police officers in England and Wales were subjected to a renewed vetting process last year, a police and crime commissioner has said.
Donna Jones, who was elected Hampshire PCC in 2021, was asked on BBC Radio 4 to respond to the claim in the Angiolini report that there is nothing to stop another Couzens from operating in plain sight.
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The Conservative PCC said a “significant review” of the vetting process for officers had taken place last year before the publication of the inquiry’s findings.
Jones said: “Thankfully, because of the first part of her review that was published, a complete re-vet of every police officer and police staff member across England and Wales has taken place over the last year.
“It’s been a significant piece of work. But to reassure the public and to anybody listening to this report, there has been a significant review of the processes.”
Everard’s murder has parallels with 2019 case
Police officers neglecting reports of indecent exposure and failing to pursue the alleged perpetrators was a central issue identified by the Angiolini report.
The inquiry recommended that police forces should have a specialist policy on investigating all sexual offences, including indecent exposure.
Dame Diana Johnson, a Labour former minister, described the crime as “endemic”. Speaking in the Commons, she referred to the case of Libby Squire, a 21-year-old student who was murdered in 2019 by a sex offender with a history of flashing and voyeurism.
• Libby Squire murder: butcher with history of sex crimes found guilty
Dame Diana said: “In my own constituency we had the horrific case of Libby Squire who was raped and murdered by a man who had been stalking and roaming the streets of Hull for 18 months prior to murdering Libby, exposing himself, acts of voyeurism, people didn’t report it because they thought the police would not take it seriously.”
She added: “What more can be done now to encourage people to come forward, women in particular, when this happens to them? And I would also say, almost every women I know at some stage in her life has had this happen to her. This is endemic.”
James Cleverly agreed to meet with the Squire family to discuss the issue
Rapists not flagged in police vetting, Labour MP says
Convicted rapists are not currently flagged in police vetting procedures, the Labour MP Jess Phillips has said, meaning that others like Wayne Couzens could still join the force without detection.
The Birmingham Yardley MP told the Commons: “To say that we are doing everything possible in flagging intelligence is just not true.
“Currently if you are found to have raped your wife or raped one of your children or abused your children, in a family court in this country, found by a British court, no police force in the country would be entitled to have that information when they were doing the vetting.”
Speaking in the Commons, Phillips asked the home secretary: “How [has] his department spent £50 million last year on 6,700 Prevent referrals to prevent people from ending up in terrorism and we spent £18 million on 898,000 police reports of domestic abuse?
“So on one side you’ve got 6,000, on one side you’ve got nearly a million, the Home Office spends £8 million on domestic violence perpetrators, £50 million on diverting terrorist perpetrators, so we’re taking it as seriously?”
James Cleverly replied: “[Phillips] raises an incredibly important point about making sure that where there have been offences that they are taken into consideration with regard to the vetting and that is part of the set of reforms that we will be looking at driving through.”
The 16 recommendations
Lady Elish Angiolini makes 16 recommendations to “bring about the necessary changes” following the publication of her findings.
“I would urge all those in authority in every police force in the country to read this report and take immediate action,” she said. “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.”
The recommendations are:
1. Police forces should have a specialist policy on investigating all sexual offences, including so-called non-contact offences, such as indecent exposure.
2. Officers should be given improved guidance and training on indecent exposure.
3. The Home Office should conduct a fundamental review of the way masturbatory indecent exposure is treated within the criminal justice system.
4. The Home Office should commission research to establish if there is an evidence-based link between active masturbatory indecent exposure and subsequent contact offending.
5. Ministers should launch a public campaign to raise awareness about the criminality of any type of indecent exposure.
6. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) should review the circumstances of all allegations of indecent exposure and other sexual offences recorded against serving officers.
7. Every new candidate applying to become a police officer in any police force should undergo an in-person interview and home visit.
8. A vetting code of practice should be introduced to prevent those who commit sexually motivated crimes against women and those otherwise unsuitable for policing.
9. Steps to improve the quality and consistency of police vetting decision-making should be taken.
10. All recruiting forces should have regard to the new vetting code of practice, which requires the parent force to share all relevant information requested about an officers transferring between forces.
11. Information-sharing practices, including data retention policies, should be strengthened.
12. Officers should be told that they will held to a higher standard of behaviour and accountability than members of the public.
13. A stronger approach to force vetting aftercare in order to monitor an individual effectively throughout their career should be developed.
14. Every police force should commit publicly to being an antisexist, anti-misogynistic, anti-racist organisation.
15. All police forces should take action to understand and confront the barriers that police officers and staff face when reporting sexual offences committed by a person that they work with.
16. The conditions of female officers and staff should be reviewed in order to encourage more women to join the police.
Public confidence in police undermined by Couzens, No 10 admits
Sarah Everard’s murder at the hands of a serving officer has “undermined public confidence” in the police, Downing Street has said.
The prime minister’s spokesman said that despite efforts to improve standards the report highlighted that “more needs to be done”.
“The horrific crimes committed by then-serving Metropolitan police officer Wayne Couzens shocked the nation and undermined public confidence in the police”, he said.
“In the years since, the Home Office has been working closely with the police to strengthen the way that police officers are vetted, scrutinised and disciplined. And more broadly, significant efforts have been made to tackle violence against women, girls”, he added.
We will rebuild confidence in the police, senior officer vows
The findings of the Angiolini report are a “glowing red signal” to police leaders, the National Police Chiefs’ Council has said, as the organisation issued an apology.
Gavin Stephens, the NPCC chairman, said: “Lady Elish spoke of others who have suffered and I apologise to any woman or girl who has fallen victim to abuse by a police officer.”
He said this was a “glowing red signal to all police leaders that we must do everything humanly possible to enact these recommendations”, adding: “We are taking action to ensure there is nowhere to hide in policing for wrongdoers, that our misconduct and vetting processes are reformed, and that our ethics and values are reset.”
He added: “We will not stop until the public, especially women and girls, get the police service they expect and deserve and their confidence in our role as protectors is rebuilt.”
Cooper: Government’s response to Couzens too weak
Labour has cast doubt over the government’s commitment to acting on the findings uncovered by the Angiolini inquiry.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, told the Commons the government’s response was “too weak” and that report should be a “watershed” moment. She said that “far too little has changed” since Everard’s murder almost three years ago.
Cooper said: “How long must we go on and say the same things. I am sick and tired of nothing changing, sick and tired of women and girls who face violence not getting support while perpetrators get away with it. Enough is enough.”
She added “Opportunities to investigate were repeatedly missed, and most disturbing of all, Lady Angiolini says there is nothing to stop another Wayne Couzens operating in plain sight.”
Cooper also criticised James Cleverly, saying: “Although I agree with most of what the home secretary has said, I have to be really blunt about this, his response is too weak, it is too little and it is too late, and the lack of urgency is unfathomable to me.”
Public deserve better from the Met, mayor says
Sadiq Khan has vowed to ensure “lessons are learned” from the Angiolini inquiry amid mounting questions over why Wayne Couzens was able to act on with impunity for so long.
The mayor of London, who is also the equivalent of the police and crime commissioner for the capital, said: “I’m determined to ensure lessons are learned and acted upon quickly by the police as part of a process of major reform — not just in London, but across the country — to raise standards, strengthen vetting and, above all else, prevent anything like this from ever happening again.”
He added that police regulations must be “strengthened” to make it harder for those who have faced serious allegations to join any force.
“And police disciplinary processes must be reformed to make it easier and quicker to remove officers who fall below the high standards rightly expected of those who are entrusted to keep us safe,” he said.
“The public deserve better from the Met and police forces across the country. There must be no hiding place for those who abuse their position of trust and authority within the police.”
Kent police apologise for Couzens failings
Kent police has apologised for failing to properly investigate when Wayne Couzens was reported for indecent exposure in 2015.
The failure to take allegations of indecent exposure seriously was a key issue highlighted in the Angiolini report.
The force said: “We fully accept the recommendations made of Kent police. We also accept our investigation into a 2015 incident of indecent exposure was flawed due to it being allocated to an officer who was not a trained investigator, and apologise for this failing.”
Couzens had been reported for driving through Dover naked from the waist down in 2015.
In 2018, Couzens applied to join the Met, which missed material on the police national database linking his car to the 2015 allegation of indecent exposure.
Couzens’ murder was a ‘gut-wrenching betrayal’
The suspected victims of Wayne Couzens “felt unable to report” the police officer to the authorities, the home secretary has said, as he pledged to rebuild public trust in the police.
Speaking in the Commons after the release of the Angiolini report James Cleverly said: “It was a gut-wrenching betrayal and abuse of power of the most egregious kind and the country was shaken to its core.”
“Couzens was completely unsuitable to serve as a police officer and worst still there were multiple occasions were this should have been recognised.”
Couzens was able to evade justice, Cleverly said, because officers were not “adequately trained and equipped” to investigate eight allegations of indecent exposure against Couzens.
Cleverly said police forces overlooked Couzens’ “chaotic financial situation” which meant he was able to continue serving in a “range of roles” before ultimately murdering Sarah Everard.
Officers charged with serious offences will be suspended
Any police officer charged with a serious criminal offence will be automatically suspended, the Home Office has announced as part of new disciplinary measures in light of the Angiolini inquiry.
There will also be a new presumption of suspension for officers charged with more minor offences. The changes will be set out by the Home Office as part of further changes to the police disciplinary system on Thursday.
It will mean that as soon as an officer is charged with an indictable offence they will be suspended from duty until an outcome is reached in their criminal case.
Indictable offences require trial by jury in a crown court and can range from burglary and criminal damage to assault, rape and murder.
Home Office will ‘thoroughly consider recommendations’
The government will “thoroughly consider the recommendations” made by Lady Elish Angiolini in her report into Everard’s murder by Wayne Couzens, the Home Office said.
For now, the Home Office has not committed to implementing the inquiry’s 16 recommendations.
• Couzens should never have been hired by police — key findings from report
Responding to the inquiry, it said: “Since 2021, the government has been driving forward a body of work to strengthen the way police officers are vetted, scrutinised and disciplined, and more broadly, efforts to put a stop to violence against women and girls.
“However, the report today highlights the need for further action and the government, in tandem with policing partners, will thoroughly consider the recommendations made by Lady Elish and respond in full in due course.”
Vetting failures are ‘depressingly familiar’ in police
The Angiolini inquiry found evidence that Wayne Couzens allegedly committed a very serious sexual assault against a child, described as barely in her teens, before his policing career even started.
It also found that there were four other alleged incidents of sexual offending that were not reported to the police, and the inquiry believes there may be more victims.
Angiolini said: “Police leaders need to radically transform their approach to police culture if future offenders like Couzens are to be denied opportunities to abuse police powers for sexual purpose.”
She went on: “Failures of investigations, failures of HR processes, and failures of vetting policy and practice are a depressingly familiar refrain in policing, Now is the time for change.
“Without a significant overhaul, there is nothing to stop another Wayne Couzens operating in plain sight.”
Report is an urgent call to action, Met chief says
Sir Mark Rowley, Britain’s most senior police officer, said the Angiolini report was “an urgent call to action for all of us in policing”.
The head of the Met conceded that policing had been marred by failures in recent years and that officers must “go further and faster” to gain back the trust of the public in the wake of Couzens’ crimes.
Cleverly: Act of pure evil shocked nation
The home secretary, James Cleverly, said the actions of Wayne Couzens were “not a reflection on the majority of dedicated police officers” but Sarah Everard was “failed in more ways than one by the people who were meant to keep her safe”.
In response to the inquiry into Everard’s murder, Cleverly said: “The act of pure evil committed against Sarah shocked the nation to its core.
“My heart goes out to Sarah’s family and to all the brave victims who came forward to help inform this report and drive change.
“The man who committed these crimes is not a reflection on the majority of dedicated police officers working day in, day out to help people.”
Now is the time for change, report argues
A series of red flags were missed about killer Wayne Couzens that meant he was able to remain a police officer despite being a serial sex offender who was deeply in debt, a damning report has found.
Elish Angiolini found that without major changes there is nothing in place to stop another monster like Couzens going undetected.
Angiolini said: “Failures of investigations, failures of recruitment processes, and failures of vetting policy and practice are a depressingly familiar refrain in policing.
“Now is the time for change and I have made 16 recommendations to bring about the necessary changes.
The report found that Couzens’ history of alleged sexual offending and preference for extreme violent pornography dated back nearly 20 years before Everard’s murder.
He is accused of having sexually assaulted a child “barely in her teens” while in his early twenties and the inquiry identified four more victims who had not reported sexual crimes to the police, and it is feared there may be more.
‘Sarah died because Couzens was a police officer’
The family of Sarah Everard said they believed the 33-year-old died because Wayne Couzens was a police officer.
In a statement, her family said: “As a family, the inquiry has helped us, not just because of its significant findings, but because its implementation made us feel that Sarah’s life was valued and her memory honoured.
“Her death has not been dismissed as a tragic event to be acknowledged with sympathy and then forgotten — questions have been raised and actions taken to investigate how this tragedy happened.
“As a family, we have not had to fight for answers and, for this, we are very thankful.”
Her family continued: “It is obvious that 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 that Sarah died because he was a police officer, she would never have got into a stranger’s car.”
Couzens had ‘deviant’ sexual interests and was not fit to be an officer
The police must ensure ensure there is not “another Wayne Couzens operating in plain sight”, the author of an inquiry into Sarah Everard’s death has said.
Speaking after the publication of her damning report into Couzens’ policing career, Dame Elish Angiolini said Couzen had broken the “social contract on which policing is based”.
He had “deviant” sexual interests and tried to show several policing colleagues “violent” and “pornographic” content on multiple occasions.
Couzens was also said to have “possessed indecent images of children”, Dame Elish noted, but he has not been charged or convicted.
Couzens, Dame Elish said, was “never fit to be a police officer”. The police failed to investigate Couzens after four separate incidents of indecent exposure were reported to officers.
She called on the police to lift their “standards of recruitment and vetting” to ensure “another Couzens” is not “operating in plain sight.”
What will the report contain?
Wayne Couzens served in three police forces before he murdered Sarah Everard and was sentenced to, effectively, die in prison. The report will seek to establish:
• A timeline of Couzens’ career, including allegations of criminal behaviour and misconduct. It will also examine why he was not identified as a sexual predator
• The circumstances surrounding his vetting as well as vetting procedures for officers in general
• Relevant matters emerging from his transfer between Kent police, the Metropolitan police and the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command
• His overall conduct
• The extent to which his colleagues were aware of, or raised, any issues about his behaviour, particularly in relation to women
• Any abuse of his police powers
Part two will look into policing culture and is expected to address concerns about women’s safety in public places.
Sarah Everard: the murder victim who changed the political agenda
The murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021 created an unwavering focus on violence against women and police misogyny.
Well travelled with a strong grasp on current affairs, Everard had moved to London in 2009, a year after graduating with a BA in geography from Durham University.
A marketing executive, Everard was targeted by Couzens just minutes after speaking to her boyfriend, Josh Lowth. She was said to be in good spirits and they made plans to meet the next day.
Her murder sparked an outpouring of grief and anger in Britain and across the world, leading to a vigil in Clapham where police were seen handcuffing and arresting female protesters.
Everard’s death raised a terrifying and fundamental question: can women even trust the police?
It is this question that Dame Elish Angiolini is likely to address in her report.
Who is Dame Elish Angiolini?
Few people in Britain are better equipped to examine errors by police, particularly in cases involving sexual violence or allegations of entrenched misogyny.
Since Wayne Couzens was given a whole life sentence in 2021, police forces have faced allegations that misogyny and harassment of women is widespread.
This is likely a key reason why Priti Patel, the former home secretary, announced that Dame Elish would chair the two-part inquiry into failings in the Everard case in 2021.
• Who is Dame Elish Angiolini, the KC tasked with studying policing failures
Why was the inquiry called?
After the harrowing murder of Sarah Everard, it emerged there had been concerns about Wayne Couzens’ behaviour while he was a police officer, and he was reportedly 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.
The 51-year-old used his status as a police officer to trick Everard into thinking he could arrest her for breaking Covid lockdown rules in place at the time.
Part one of the inquiry examined why Couzens, who was twice reported to police for flashing, was not identified as a sexual predator before he attacked Everard in south London in March 2021. It also examined vetting procedures for officers.
