‘Vile rape fantasies’ of police off icers in Couzens group
POLiCe officers shared messages about raping women and assaulting girls in a Whatsapp group including Wayne Couzens before he killed sarah everard, a court heard yesterday.
Firearms officers William neville, 34, Jonathan Cobban, 35, and ex-PC Joel borders, 45, are also accused of discussing the idea of shooting people with down’s syndrome and that Muslims were terrorists.
Couzens, a former parliamentary and diplomatic protection officer was jailed for life last year for the kidnap, rape and murder of Miss everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive. Westminster Magistrates’ Court was told that one of the scotland Yard trio, who described his duties as ‘p***y patrol’, referred to parts of London as ‘a dulux colour code’.
The messages – sent between april and august
2019 – were uncovered when Couzens was arrested last year. edward brown QC, prosecuting, said of neville:
‘Wanted to shoot people’
‘He got pleasure from the detention of a 15-year-old girl with what he called a “struggle snuggle”.
‘This is acting out a rape fantasy or other non-consensual physical touching. Cobban encourages this and comments “haha”, displaying an amused reaction.’
in other exchanges, Cobban suggested preying on domestic violence victims saying they ‘love it’ when they are sexually assaulted, the court heard. Mr brown said these messages ‘target the most vulnerable in society who often feel unable to report abuse to police’.
elsewhere in the Whatsapp group, borders is said to have discussed raping a female police colleague, saying: ‘she will use me as an example. Lead me on, then get me locked up when i rape and beat her! sneaky bitch.’ Other posts joked about the prospect of leaving Muslims to die in a terrorist bombing and talked about the officers feeling like a ‘spot on a domino’ in ‘filthy’ racially diverse areas of London, Mr brown said. Cobban is accused of describing Hounslow as a ‘f****** somali ****hole’ and saying patrolling the town centre was ‘walking along a dulux colour code’.
Mr brown said comments between Cobban and neville about mosques were ‘equating Muslims with terrorists’.
On another occasion, borders allegedly said he couldn’t wait to be a firearms officer so he could shoot people, including those with down’s.
Cobban is said to have replied: ‘Me too. i want to Taser a cat and a dog to see which reacts better. same with children.’
Like Couzens, the defendants worked for the Civil nuclear Constabulary before moving to the Met in 2019. all three wore medical masks to court yesterday to shield their identities.
When the Whatsapp messages emerged, they claimed they were just jokes. Couzens’ messages were not read out in court because of other investigations.
nicholas Yeo, defending all three, denied there was any reference to a rape fantasy, saying: ‘The language may be light-hearted but it is incapable of bearing that meaning.’
Cobban, of didcot, Oxfordshire, and borders, of Preston, deny five counts of sending an offensive matter by public communication network. neville, of Weybridge, surrey, denies two of the same charges.
The trial continues.