Couzens joked about rape on Whatsapp

WAYNE COUZENS joked about rape and sexual assault and shared racist comments with police colleagues as part of a Whatsapp group, it has emerged.

The 50-year-old, who is serving a whole life sentence for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard, 33, was in the social media group in 2019 with six other Met officers who, like Couzens, had all previously worked for the Civil Nuclear Constabulary.

The existence of the group and the disturbing contents were discovered when Couzens was arrested in March 2021 in connection with Everard’s disappearance and his devices were seized and examined.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigated the messages and two members of the group, PC Joel Borders and PC Jonathon Cobban, later received jail sentences after being convicted of malicious communication offences.

Following the conclusion of legal proceedings relating to Couzens’ indecent exposure offences, the IOPC released its full report into the Whatsapp group, revealing the contents of some of the messages he sent and received.

On March 21 2019, Couzens asked Cobban if he had sexually assaulted a drunk woman he had encountered on the way home.

Cobban replied: “I considered it. But she was a right old lump… So I just raped a bystander instead.”

On June 29 2019, the group were involved in a racist exchange in which some members joked about shooting black people and also about starving children in Africa.