Ex-officer blames ‘rape’ text on poor grammar

A former policeman has told a court that remarks about rape in a Whatsapp chat with Wayne Couzens, the officer convicted of murdering Sarah Everard, were distorted because of poor “grammar”.

Ex-pc Joel Borders, 45, is on trial at Westminster magistrates’ court along with serving officers Jonathon Cobban, 35, and William Neville, 34, charged with sending “grossly offensive” messages in 2019, which they deny.

Borders denied that messages about “raping and beating” a colleague were offensive. He said: “Really the rape and beat should have been in quotations, but it’s text – it’s never grammatically correct.” The trial continues on Sept 21.