The Met must root out officers “unfit to wear the badge”, ministers said on Tuesday after killer cop Wayne Couzens was convicted of indecent exposure, another serving officer was found guilty of sexual assault and a third admitted attacking a woman this week.
MPs urged Mayor Sadiq Khan and new commissioner Sir Mark Rowley to “get a grip” on the force and prevent violence against women and girls.
Minister for London Paul Scully told the Standard: “What Wayne Couzens has done is horrific. Not just the murder of Sarah Everard but all of the other revelations that have come out of it.
“It’s right that Sir Mark Rowley roots out police officers who are not fit to wear the badge. The vast majority of Met Police officers must be frustrated and appalled that their excellent work has been called into question.”
Couzens was on Monday sentenced to 19 months for indecent exposures in a Kent woodland and at a McDonald’s between November 2020 and February 2021 when he was a Met officer.
The 50-year-old is already serving a whole-life term for the abduction, rape and murder of Ms Everard, who he kidnapped from near Clapham Common in March 2021.
Victims of the flashing incidents said he could have been stopped from murdering if their reports were properly investigated at the time.
One McDonald’s worker who Couzens exposed himself to said: “If he had been held accountable when we had reported the crime, we could have saved Sarah.”
The force apologised and Met Police Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said yesterday: “It’s fair to say we could have done more and we will do more.”
Couzens also joked about rape and made racist comments with police colleagues two years before he went on to murder, newly released messages have shown. He was in a WhatsApp group chat with other officers, including PC Jonathon Cobban and PC Joel Borders, jailed for three months in November for sending offensive messages.
Serving PC Archit Sharma, who worked in Enfield and Haringey, was on Monday convicted of sexually assaulting a colleague while they were both on duty.
He is due to be sentenced at Wood Green crown court on May 5 and will also face misconduct proceedings, the Met said.
Detective Chief Superintendent Caroline Haine added: “I am furious that an officer has behaved in such a grossly unacceptable way."
On the same day PC Thomas Andrews, who worked across Lewisham, Bromley and Bexley, was jailed for one year and four months after he admitted assaulting a woman while off duty last year.
Detective Chief Superintendent Seb Adjei-Addoh said today that he was “saddened by this incident and grateful to members of the public who raised the alarm”.
Home Office minister Chris Philp told the Standard: “Couzens was clearly an animal who should never have been allowed to serve.
“Forces are now vetting every officer and the Home Office urgently reviewing the rules on police dismissals to make it easier and faster to remove those officers where there has been misconduct.
“We must ensure this never happens again. Sadiq Khan needs to step up and provide much better oversight of the Met, which is his responsibility.”
Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee Caroline Nokes said: "This chapter is not over - what Couzens did was actually allow a spotlight to be turned on the Met - so there will be a lot more cases emerge as victims feel empowered to speak out - Carrick and Couzens may be the worst - but there are others.”
Mr Khan said Couzens “could and should have been stopped before his fatal attack”.
He added: “This case underlines the vital need to treat every case of violence against women and girls in a timely and professional manner and I’m determined to support and hold the police to account to ensure that nothing like this is ever allowed to happen again.
“There is clearly an issue with the way in which indecent exposure is currently dealt with throughout the criminal justice system — from policing, to courts, to sentencing. This needs to be urgently reviewed.”
