Met officers in Couzens Whatsapp group identified

‘Three defendants have been charged with sending grossly offensive messages on a Whatsapp group chat’

THREE Metropolitan Police officers accused of sharing racist and misogynistic social media messages with Wayne Couzens have been named following a secrecy row.

Pc Jonathan Cobban, 35, Pc William Neville, 33, and former officer Joel Borders, 45, will all appear in court next month charged with sending grossly offensive material on Whatsapp to Couzens, who last year kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard.

The three had initially been afforded anonymity by prosecutors who claimed they were not being identified for “operational reasons”.

But after complaints from open justice campaigners, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it had decided to put the names into the public domain.

In a statement Rosemary Ainslie, the head of the CPS Special Crime Division, said: “Following a referral of evidence by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the CPS authorised charges against two serving Metropolitan Police officers and one former officer.

“Pc Jonathan Cobban, 35, Pc William Neville, 33, and former officer Joel Borders, 45, will appear at Westminster magistrates’ court on March 16 for their first hearing.

“Each of the three defendants has been charged with sending grossly offensive messages on a public communications network. The alleged offences took place on a Whatsapp group chat.

“The function of the CPS is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges to a court to consider.

“Criminal proceedings are active and nothing should be published that could jeopardise the defendants’ right to a fair trial.”

It is understood the highly unusual decision to initially grant the officers anonymity was taken after their legal representatives argued their welfare would be at risk if they were named.

The officers were placed under investigation last year after detectives working on the Sarah Everard case seized all the electronic devices belonging to Couzens.

On one of his mobile phones it is alleged they discovered a Whatsapp group featuring some of his Metropolitan Police colleagues in which grossly offensive messages had been exchanged.

The messages, which were shared between April and August 2019, allegedly included material that was racist and misogynistic in nature.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct launched an investigation and sent a file to the CPS in December.