Met Police finally sack Sarah Everard's killer from the force seven days after he was convicted of her rape, murder and kidnap

  • Wayne Couzens who murdered Sarah Everard has been fired from the Met Police
  • Misconduct hearing found he breached standards of professional behaviour
  • Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball said he 'betrayed' what the police stand for Pc Wayne Couzens, who admitted to the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard, has been sacked from the Metropolitan Police.

    Scotland Yard said that a misconduct hearing on Friday found that the actions of 48-year-old Couzens breached the standards of professional behaviour in respect of discreditable conduct.

    The hearing, chaired by Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball, dismissed Couzens - who was attached to the Met's Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command - without notice, the force added.

    Scotland Yard said that a misconduct hearing on Friday found that the actions of 48-year-old Couzens breached the standards of professional behaviour in respect of discreditable conduct

    Scotland Yard said that a misconduct hearing on Friday found that the actions of 48-year-old Couzens breached the standards of professional behaviour in respect of discreditable conduct

    Five members of Miss Everard's family were joined by Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick in court to watch as Couzens, head bowed and shaking, entered his whispered plea by video link from Belmarsh prison

    Five members of Miss Everard's family were joined by Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick in court to watch as Couzens, head bowed and shaking, entered his whispered plea by video link from Belmarsh prison

    Met commissioner Dame Cressida Dick (pictured) said that she had told the Everard family 'how very sorry I am for their loss, for their pain and their suffering'

    Met commissioner Dame Cressida Dick (pictured) said that she had told the Everard family 'how very sorry I am for their loss, for their pain and their suffering'Ms Ball said: 'Couzens has betrayed everything we, the police, stand for and following his guilty pleas and convictions I have dismissed him today.

    'All of us in the Met are horrified, sickened and angered by this man's crimes.

    'Sarah was a young woman who had her life cruelly snatched away from her. I know she is sorely missed by so many people and our thoughts remain with her loved ones.

    'We are so profoundly sorry.'

    The force said it held an accelerated hearing as quickly as possible following Couzens' guilty plea and conviction on July 9.

    Pressure is now mounting on Met chief Dame Cressida Dick to resign in the wake of the case.

    Questions surround as to explain why Couzens was not kicked out of the force and why he became an armed member of the elite Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection squad at the time of Miss Everard's killing despite reports of previous bad conduct.

    Couzens, who kidnapped, raped and murdered the marketing executive while she walked home from a friend's house in Clapham in March, was reported to bosses for allegedly slapping a female colleague's bottom at Bromley police station in 2018 - just weeks after he joined the force.

    Shortly after starting at Bromley in South London, the married killer allegedly stopped a female motorist and said her tax and insurance were out of date before making a note of her address so he could later pull up outside her house and leer at her, the Sun on Sunday reports.

    Couzens, whose former colleagues at the Civil Nuclear Constabulary allegedly nicknamed him 'The Rapist' because of how he is said to have made female colleagues uneasy, is also accused of parking his patrol car by schools so he could watch mothers and sixth-formers. 

    A Metropolitan Police spokesman told MailOnline that it has no record of the allegations being passed to the Directorate of Professional Standards, and will assess any new allegation it receives 'appropriately'. 

    The force previously told the Sun on Sunday: 'We are not able to respond to queries such as this while ­proceedings are ongoing.' 

    CCTV footage of Sarah Everard captured earlier on the night she was kidnapped in south London in March this year

    CCTV footage of Sarah Everard captured earlier on the night she was kidnapped in south London in March this year

    Wayne Couzens
    Wayne Couzens

    Shortly after starting at Bromley in South London, the married killer allegedly stopped a female motorist and said her tax and insurance were out of date before making a note of her address so he could later pull up outside her house and leer at her, the Sun on Sunday reports 

    Couzens seen in a court sketch during a previous hearing relating to the case. He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to the murder of the marketing executive on Friday

    Couzens seen in a court sketch during a previous hearing relating to the case. He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to the murder of the marketing executive on Friday

    A source told the Sun on Sunday newspaper: 'It is frightening when you think about what happened to poor Sarah. If someone had been doing their job properly three years ago then none of this would have happened.'

    After Couzens pleaded guilty to murder at the Old Bailey, the Independent Office for Police Conduct revealed that his former force Kent Police received a complaint from a male motorist that he allegedly drove around Dover naked in 2015 - three years before he joined the Met. 

    Couzens had been accused of indecent exposure three times before he abducted Miss Everard in Clapham, south London, on March 3.

    He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to the murder of the marketing executive on Friday, having previously admitted her kidnap and rape on Friday, July 9.

    Five members of Miss Everard's family were joined by Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick in court to watch as Couzens, head bowed and shaking, entered his whispered plea by video link from Belmarsh prison.

    During the 20-minute hearing Lord Justice Fulford discussed the possibility of a whole-life order as he adjourned sentencing until September 29.

    Dame Cressida spoke to the family before making a statement on the steps of the Old Bailey.

    She said that she had told the Everard family 'how very sorry I am for their loss, for their pain and their suffering', adding: 'All of us in the Met are sickened, angered and devastated by this man's crimes - they are dreadful. Everyone in policing feels betrayed.'

    The IOPC has launched an investigation into alleged failures by Kent Police to investigate the indecent exposure allegation against Couzens dating back to 2015.

    An IOPC probe is also ongoing into alleged failures by the Met to investigate two allegations of indecent exposure linked to Couzens in London in February this year, with two officers under investigation for possible breaches of professional standards. 

    The three clues police missed in the Sarah Everard case

    Wayne Couzens was reported to bosses for allegedly slapping a female colleague's bottom at Bromley police station in 2018 - just weeks after he joined the force.

    Shortly after starting at Bromley in South London, he allegedly stopped a female motorist and said her tax and insurance were out of date before making a note of her address so he could later pull up outside her house and leer at her, the Sun on Sunday reports.

    Couzens' former colleagues at the Civil Nuclear Constabulary allegedly nicknamed him 'The Rapist' because of how he is said to have made female colleagues uneasy, is also accused of parking his patrol car by schools so he could watch mothers and sixth-formers. 

No comments:

Powered by Blogger.