11 June 2023 , 21:00
1081
0
An ex-Metropolitan Police boss warns misogyny is so entrenched in the police more Wayne Couzens are likely.
Speaking in a documentary that investigates Sarah Everard’s killer, former Met Chief Superintendent Parm Sandhu says: “I do believe it’s likely there will be another Wayne Couzens.
“It might not be this year, it might not be in the Met, but it will happen again.”
The biggest opportunity to stop Couzens was when he joined the Met in 2018 and was not properly vetted, despite having been accused of indecent exposure three years earlier, she said.
“He should never have been given the opportunity to transfer to the Met,” she says.
Man in 30s dies after being stabbed in park sparking police probe
Journalist Lucy Osborne looks at Couzens’ background and examines other officers convicted of sexual offences, including David Carrick.
Sarah Everard, 33, was walking home from a friend's house in south London when she encountered Couzens (SWNS)
Parm Sandhu (Supplied)Homicide specialist Jane Monckton-Smith said Couzens is likely to have committed other sexually violent crimes.
“It would be highly unusual for somebody to go from exposing themselves to abduction, rape and murder,” she says.
“There will have been steps in that where he was moving towards what he did that night.”
Couzens was given a whole-life term for the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah, 33, as she walked home in South London on March 3, 2021.
More than 1,000 Met officers are being probed for alleged sexual offences or domestic violence.
Sarah's murder shocked the nation and sparked vigils and protests (PA)Of 500 police and staff accused of sexual assaults across the country in the past four years, 351 are still serving. Expert Matt Parr, an HM Inspector of Constabulary, says enormous change must happen to restore public trust.
“It’s taken the Couzens case for everyone to appreciate the scale of the problem,” he explains.
“We concluded that hundreds of people have joined the police who we think shouldn’t.”
He adds every force he looked at has a culture of misogyny.
Russian model killed after calling Putin a 'psychopath' was strangled by her ex
More than one in five female officers said they had been a victim of a sexual assault.
Criminal justice expert Dame Vera Baird says complaints over Couzens’ repeated flashing had been glossed over. She adds: “It is a very threatening piece of behaviour which speaks of a wish to be closer and to do real harm.”
- Wayne Couzens: Killer in Plain Sight, Channel 5, Thursday, 9pm.