Prosecutors have named the police officers charged over allegedly sharing racist and misogynistic messages on a WhatsApp group that included the officer who kidnapped and murdered Sarah Everard.
The Crown Prosecution Service last Thursday announced charges against two serving Metropolitan police officers and one former officer, but kept their identities secret.
The investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) began after a phone belonging to Wayne Couzens, then serving as a Metropolitan police officer, was seized and searched.
He was later convicted of the kidnap, rape and murder of Everard, who went missing as she walked home in south London in March 2021.
On Monday, the CPS named the officers alleged to have shared “grossly offensive” messages between April and August 2019.
Senior CPS lawyer Rosemary Ainslie said: “Following a referral of evidence by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the CPS authorised charges against two serving Metropolitan police officers and one former officer.
“PC Jonathan Cobban, 35, PC William Neville, 33, and former officer Joel Borders, 45, will appear at Westminster magistrates court on 16 March for their first hearing.
“Each of the three defendants has been charged with sending grossly offensive messages on a public communications network. The alleged offences took place on a WhatsApp group chat.”
Borders, a former police constable, served in the Civil Nuclear constabulary as a firearms officer, before transferring to the Met. Couzens also worked for the CNC before joining Scotland Yard.
The two serving Met officers had been suspended from duty, the force said.
The IOPC said: “Police constable Jonathon Cobban, aged 35, and former constable Joel Borders, 45, are both charged with five counts of sending grossly offensive messages on a public communications network contrary to section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.
“PC William Neville, 33, is charged with two counts of the same offence. The offences are alleged to have occurred variously between April and August 2019.
“The IOPC’s investigation began following a referral from the [Met] in April last year (2021) and was completed in December when we referred a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The CPS has taken the decision to authorise charges against the officers.”
In September Couzens received a whole-life sentence, meaning he will never be released from prison.
Two inquiries are under way into policing following details of Couzens’ crimes being made public. One, ordered by the Met, is being conducted by Dame Louise Casey. The other, ordered by the home secretary, is being conducted by Dame Elish Angiolini.
Ainslie added: “The function of the CPS is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges to a court to consider.
“Criminal proceedings are active and nothing should be published that could jeopardise the defendants’ right to a fair trial.”
