A Metropolitan Police firearms officer who kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard had been reported to police eight times for indecent exposure, an inquiry has found.
Wayne Couzens is alleged to have attempted to kidnap someone at knifepoint, raped a woman in the mid-2000s and raped another woman under a bridge in London in 2019.
He is also accused of sexually assaulting a man in drag, subjecting a child to a “very serious sexual assault”, and possessing indecent images of children.
Here are the key points, nearly three years after Everard was killed:
Missed opportunities
Three police forces “could have and should have” stopped Couzens and missed a series of opportunities to pick up numerous “red flags” during his vetting, a two-year inquiry published on Thursday morning has concluded. The inquiry found that Couzens should never have been given a job as a police officer.
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The independent inquiry, led by Lady Elish Angiolini, uncovered evidence of Couzens’s alleged sexual offending including an attempted rape, a kidnapping, indecent exposure, a preference for extreme and violent pornography and unmanaged debts dating back more than 25 years before Everard’s murder.
• Wayne Couzens inquiry: follow it live
Couzens, a father of two children, had indecently exposed himself on several occasions before Everard’s murder — including twice at a drive-through fast food restaurant in Kent four days before she disappeared. He was not caught despite driving his own car and using his credit card to pay for food.
Samantha Lee, then a police constable in the Met, was sacked and barred from policing last year after a gross misconduct panel found that she had not properly investigated the flashing 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.
How did it happen?
Everard, 33, a marketing manager, was walking in Clapham, south London, when Couzens, now 51, used his warrant card to coerce her into the back of a hired car on March 3, 2021. He used his status as a police officer to trick Everard into thinking he could arrest her for breaking lockdown rules in place during the coronavirus pandemic.
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After a missing persons campaign, Everard’s body was found a week later in Hoads Wood in Ashford, Kent. Couzens pleaded guilty to her kidnap, rape and murder and was given a whole-life order in September 2021. He was later convicted of indecent exposure on three occasions between November 2020 and February 2021.
During sentencing, Lord Justice Fulford told Couzens: “You have irretrievably damaged the lives of Sarah Everard’s family and friends. You have eroded the confidence that the public are entitled to have in the police forces of England and Wales. You have very considerably added to the sense of insecurity that many have living in our cities, perhaps particularly women, when travelling by themselves and especially at night.”
Everard’s murder triggered a nationwide outpouring of anger and concern over women’s personal safety and abuse by police officers.
Failures in police vetting
Angiolini found that Couzens had failed vetting for his first force, Kent police, in 2004 but had then been allowed to join as a special constable in 2006.
She has called for an overhaul of vetting across the country, adding: “There is nothing to stop another Wayne Couzens operating in plain sight.”
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Angiolini, a former lord advocate in Scotland, said that as a special constable, Couzens had been “wearing the same uniform, carrying the same kit and enjoying the same powers, including the power of arrest, as a regular police officer”.
Couzens previously worked at his family’s garage. In 2002 he joined a regiment of the Territorial Army but in 2008 he was discharged for failing to fulfil his training obligation after ignoring letters reminding him of his obligations as a reservist.
In 2005 he applied to join the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), but failed the selection process.
After joining Kent police as a special constable Couzens was promoted to the grade of section officer, comparable to a sergeant, but in 2008 he failed vetting again for Kent police, but was retained as a volunteer officer.
He applied again to the CNC in 2009 and passed police recruitment vetting checks, which were carried out by another force, Thames Valley police, in 2011. He was posted to Sellafield nuclear site in July that year.
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Angiolini said: “Repeated failures in recruitment and vetting meant that Couzens could enjoy the powers and privileges that accompany the role of police officer. He went on to use his knowledge of police powers to falsely arrest Sarah Everard. Even after Couzens’s arrest, and a review of his vetting clearance, the Metropolitan Police Service told the inquiry in 2022 that they would still have recruited him if provided with the same information. I found this astonishing.”
Couzens was able to pass the checks despite having an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA), typically set up to avoid a bankruptcy, which national guidelines state should have precluded him from gaining approval.
In 2013 and 2014, while working at CNC, he committed two motoring offences. In 2018 he applied to transfer from the CNC to the Met. Errors in the vetting process meant a police national database check came back as “no trace”.
Entries in the database it missed included Couzens being reported missing in 2013 while working as a firearms officer and a reference to his car being linked to an offence of indecent exposure in 2015.
Police response to indecent exposure lacking
Making 16 recommendations, Angiolini called for a fundamental change to how police respond to allegations of indecent exposure.
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Everard’s family said on Thursday that Couzens “should never have been a police officer. Whilst holding a position of trust, in reality he was a sex offender. Warning signs were overlooked throughout his career and opportunities to confront him were missed.”
Couzens assaulted a child
The inquiry also heard evidence that in his early twenties, before he started as a police officer, Couzens committed a very serious assault against a child who was barely in her teens. The alleged assault was “serious sexual offending”. It was not reported at the time and was not the subject of a police investigation.
Money troubles
In 2007, while serving as a special constable, Couzens entered into a five-year IVA to pay back £250 a month over five years.
At the time he was arrested for Everard’s murder, Scotland Yard was taking action to recover £15,000 that had been paid to him in error and a one-year mortgage holiday was about to expire.
History of predatory behaviour
Couzens’s predatory behaviour dates back to the mid-Nineties when he allegedly kidnapped a woman in London, the report disclosed. The alleged victim contacted police hours after the incident but the perpetrator was not caught.
When Couzens was charged after Everard’s abduction, the woman went back to the police having seen his photo in news reports. In March 2022, Couzens was arrested and questioned over the allegations. No further action was taken because of “evidential difficulties”.
Couzens was also accused of raping two women, the inquiry found. The first, between November 2006 and January 2007, allegedly took place during a singles event at a bar in east London. Police investigated the complaint but no further action was taken.
In October 2019, Couzens allegedly raped a woman beneath a bridge in London. Again, police investigated the complaint but no action was taken due to “evidential difficulties”.
He was further accused of sexually assaulting a man at a bar in Kent in summer 2019. The complainant, who was in drag and wearing a blonde wig, claimed a man struck up a conversation and “touched him inappropriately”. A confrontation ensued, at which point the man identified himself as a police officer, the report said.
The performer described being angered by the “apparent abuse of his position as a police officer”. Afterwards, the man is said to have invited the complainant outside “to perform a sexual act”. No report was made to the police at the time. However, the man came forward after recognising Couzens’s photo in news reports in March 2021. Police launched an investigation but took no further action. The report added: “It is the only allegation of which the inquiry is aware of involving sexual touching directed at a male victim.”
Reports in days before Everard’s disappearance
The Met and Kent police received seven reports relating to Couzens’s behaviour between November 21 2008 and February 27 2021 — four days before Everard’s disappearance. The complaints ranged from flashing his penis while driving and exposing himself to an employee at a drive-through restaurant.
As officers searched for Everard, Scotland Yard received a complaint alleging that Couzens had performed a sexual act while driving in the summer of 2004. He was not charged over this incident.
Of the eight police-reported incidents, the inquiry lamented the “repeated failure to deal with these reports in a reasonable and professional manner”. In March last year, Couzens pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent exposure and was sentenced to 19 months’ imprisonment. Three charges were ordered to lie on file.
Couzens used position of power to control women
The inquiry also found that Couzens “deliberately targeted and exerted power over his victims”.
It said: “He exploited their vulnerabilities, such as youth and inexperience, previous abuse, and in some cases made them question their own responsibility for what happened, thereby deterring them from reporting his behaviour.”
In a statement to parliament, Angiolini said: “The evidence seen by the inquiry has shown that failures in recruitment and vetting meant Couzens was able to continue a policing career that should have been denied to him. Failures in investigations into allegations of indecent exposure meant opportunities to disrupt Couzens’s offending and bring his policing career to a halt were missed …
“This all enabled him to target vulnerable women while operating in plain sight as an apparently unremarkable officer.
“However, the fact remains that three separate police forces allowed him the privilege of being a police officer when they could and should have stopped him.”
