Met officers joked about rape and ‘struggle snuggles’ in online chat

‘The defendants were serving officers when they shared “grossly racist, sexist, misogynistic” messages’

THREE Met officers joked in a Whatsapp group – which included Sarah Everard’s killer Wayne Couzens – about raping a female colleague and being well-practised in “struggle snuggles”, a court has heard.

Pc Jonathon Cobban, Pc William Neville and former officer Joel Borders are accused of sharing grossly offensive messages on the platform between April and August 2019.

The material was found on a Whats-app group on one of Couzens’s old phones after he was arrested for the abduction, rape and murder of Ms Everard in March 2021 – crimes for which he is serving a whole-life sentence.

The defendants were serving officers when they shared “grossly racist, sexist, misogynistic” messages, some sent on duty, Westminster magistrates’ court heard yesterday.

The men accept they sent the messages, but deny they cross the criminal threshold of being grossly offensive. In one exchange, Mr Neville told Mr Cobban his experience of “struggle snuggles” had “come in useful” when he had to pin “a 15-year-old girl going mental to the floor”, the court heard. Mr Cobban replied: “Haha struggle snuggles are always useful… good skills!”

Edward Brown QC, prosecuting, defined a “struggle snuggle” as “acting out a rape fantasy or other non-consensual physical touching”, but Nicholas Yeo, defending, said it was a non-sexual term which came from officer training. Mr Brown said “the implied undertone” that Mr Neville enjoyed using physical restraint to conceal non-consensual sexual contact was “wholly demeaning and grossly offensive to any young girl who was looking for, and deserved, sympathetic and professional treatment from a police officer”.

On another occasion, Mr Borders said a female colleague, referred to in court by the pseudonym Kate, would “lead me on then get me locked up when I rape and beat her”. Jokes about guns and tasers being used on the vulnerable were also mentioned, with Mr Borders saying: “I can’t wait to get on guns so I can shoot some c--- in the face!” Mr Cobban said he wanted to use a Taser on children, cats and dogs, to which Mr Borders replied: “And a couple of downys?”

The court also saw messages between Mr Borders and Mr Cobban where Mr Cobban called the London borough of Hounslow a “f------ Somali s--- hole”.

Mr Cobban and Mr Borders are charged with five counts of sending grossly offensive messages, while Mr Neville is charged with two counts. They deny the offences.

The trial continues.