His vile WhatsApps with fellow officers

WAYNE Couzens joked with fellow officers about rape and the sexual assault of domestic abuse victims two years before he killed Sarah Everard.

With all criminal proceedings against him finished, it can finally be disclosed that the former Scotland Yard officer shared the vile messages with colleagues.

The 50-year-old was in a WhatsApp group with seven Met officers who swapped disgusting messages about raping women, Tasering children and animals and shooting people with Down’s syndrome.

Two of his former colleagues, firearms officer Jonathon Cobban, 35, and former PC Joel Borders, 46, were jailed for three months in November over the grossly offensive posts. Four other officers, Gary Bailey, Matthew Forster, William Neville and Daniel Comfort lost their jobs over the exchanges.

But Couzens’ own abhorrent messages were kept secret until the conclusion of court proceedings yesterday to avoid the risk of prejudicing any jury.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct released the appalling tranche of messages, exchanged in 2019 but only uncovered when Couzens was arrested for murder.

The officers who had served in the Civil Nuclear Constabulary before joining the Met also made jokes about sexual orientation, gender reassignment and disability.

In one chat about an unconscious woman who had been drinking, Couzens asked his colleague on March 21, 2019: ‘Did you [perform a sex act] to see if she was ok?’ Cobban responded: ‘I considered it. But she was a right old lump. So I just raped a bystander instead.’

In February 2019 Couzens joked about gaining consent for rape, telling a colleague: ‘It’s got to be consensual!’. To this Forster replied: ‘They’ve only got to say yes once.’

Couzens also made racist comments about Peckham in south-east London.