LONDON: A public inquiry into a British police officer whose rape and murder of a woman horrified the nation concluded on Thursday (Feb 29) that without a sweeping overhaul of failed vetting procedures, there was nothing to stop another similar case from arising.
Wayne Couzens, 51, whose job was to guard diplomatic premises in London, is serving a full life sentence in jail after being convicted of the 2021 rape and murder of Sarah Everard, whom he abducted from a London street using his police credentials to force her into his car.
He subsequently pleaded guilty to three unrelated charges of exposing himself. In total, the inquiry found eight such offences had been reported, but not acted upon, before the killing of Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive.
Elish Angiolini, who headed the inquiry, said serial failings in the vetting and investigations of Couzens meant that red flags were repeatedly missed, but he “could and should” have been stopped.
“Wayne Couzens was never fit to be a police officer,” Angiolini said. “And without a significant overhaul, there is nothing to stop another Couzens operating in plain sight.”
After Couzens’ crimes came to light, Mark Rowley, the head of London’s Metropolitan Police (MPS), began a major purge of his force.
Since then further serving officers have been convicted of serious sexual offences, including one who carried out 24 rapes. A report last year concluded the MPS was institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.
“The scale of the change that is needed inevitably means it will take time…,” Rowley said on Thursday in response to the inquiry’s findings.
Source: CNA
