A former Metropolitan police officer is to face a gross misconduct hearing for allegedly failing to properly investigate indecent exposure allegations against Wayne Couzens, made days before he murdered Sarah Everard, the police watchdog has said.
The former Met officer is also facing claims over misleading testimony given to investigators and is one of two people to face action over alleged missed chances to identify Couzens as a suspected sex offender before he went looking for a woman to attack in March 2021. The Met said the constable resigned in 2022 while under investigation.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct also said a sergeant from Kent police would face a misconduct meeting over separate allegations relating to another alleged indecent exposure by Couzens, in Dover in 2015, when police were given his car registration after he allegedly exposed himself in public.
Neither the Met nor the IOPC would confirm the gender of the former officer facing the gross misconduct hearing. Another Met officer who supervised the inquiries was cleared of wrongdoing.
The Met said the PC was tasked with investigating incidents at a fast food restaurant in Swanley, Kent, where Couzens repeatedly indecently exposed himself in February 2021.
Six days before Couzens – then an armed Met officer – kidnapped and then murdered Everard, on 27 February 2021, he was seen by staff at the restaurant in his car with his genitalia visible.
The female staff were upset and recorded the registration plate – which if checked would show the black Seat belonged to Couzens – and details from a credit card he used to pay for food were also recovered. The incident was reported to police the next day.
The Met said: “On 28 February 2021, the Met received an allegation of exposure at a location in Swanley, Kent. This was recorded and passed to a local officer to investigate. By the time of Sarah Everard’s kidnap, on 3 March 2021, the investigation was not concluded and Couzens’ occupation had not been identified.”
Couzens on Monday pleaded guilty to three different criminal charges of indecent exposure, all of which happened before he murdered Everard.
He is serving a whole-life sentence for the March 2021 kidnap, rape and murder of Everard.
The IOPC said: “The MPS police constable will face allegations they breached police standards of professional behaviour for duties and responsibilities for alleged failings over the way inquiries were progressed. The constable is also accused of breaching the standards relating to honesty and integrity over parts of an account provided to IOPC investigators in respect of the alleged failings.”
Police can check car registration details from a desk via a computer linked to the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency. Such checks are regarded in policing as basic, a senior Met officer accepted.
Couzens was arrested by his fellow Met officers on 9 March over Everard’s disappearance.
The IOPC added: “We began an investigation after a conduct referral from the MPS on 10 March 2021 concerning the investigation into reports that a man had exposed himself to female staff on two occasions in February 2021 at a drive-through fast food restaurant in south London. Former MPS officer Wayne Couzens pleaded guilty to both offences on Monday 13 February 2023.
“The IOPC investigation … looked at whether inquiries were adequately carried out and supervised between the officer’s visit to the restaurant on 3 March and on 10 March when a different team took over.
“We considered whether local and national policies were followed in relation to the gathering of any available CCTV evidence, checks on a vehicle used by the alleged offender, and if evidential material was correctly dealt with.”
The IOPC also said an officer from Kent police would face a misconduct meeting over separate allegations relating to another alleged indecent exposure by Couzens
The Kent officer, a sergeant, was investigated over a 2015 incident when Couzens was alleged to have exposed himself in Dover. A man out driving with his partner and child saw another man in a car naked from the waist down. The man recorded the registration and passed it to Kent police. Couzens pleaded not guilty to that charge on Monday, which prosecutors decided to allow to lie on file.
The IOPC said: “We found no evidence to suggest that Wayne Couzens was identified as a police officer and he was not spoken to.”
Couzens was an officer in the parliamentary and diplomatic protection group, the same unit as the serial rapist David Carrick, who was jailed last week. The Met insists the two officers did not work together and there was no evidence they knew each other.
A inquiry ordered by the government into the Couzens scandal conducted by Dame Elish Angiolini KC is waiting for the disciplinary hearings to conclude before publishing its findings, which is expected to be this summer.
