Sarah Everard could have been saved, victim says
Couzens sentenced to 19 months for indecent exposure before murder
A WORKER at Mcdonald’s who Wayne Couzens flashed at has criticised the police for failing to investigate the offence properly, saying had they done so Sarah Everard could have been saved.
The woman had been working at a drive-through branch of the fast food restaurant in Swanley, Kent, in February 2021, when Couzens – a Metropolitan Police officer – exposed himself to her and other members of staff.
The incident occurred just days before he kidnapped, raped and then murdered Miss Everard as she walked home through south London.
It was the second time Couzens had indecently exposed himself to female workers at the restaurant in a matter of weeks. But despite being given details of his vehicle and CCTV footage, police failed to investigate the incidents fully.
In an emotional victim impact statement, one of the victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said if Scotland Yard had taken the matter more seriously, Miss Everard might still be alive.
She told the Old Bailey – where Couzens was being sentenced for three counts of indecent exposure: “I had no one contact me or ask for a statement. It was only after Sarah’s murder that I became involved. If he had been held accountable when we had reported the crime, we could have saved Sarah.”
The judge in the hearing, Mrs Justice May, was also critical of the police’s failure to investigate the allegations properly, suggesting it had empowered Couzens.
She said: “The fact that no police came to find him or his black car, to question him about these incidents, can only serve to strengthen, in the defendant’s mind, a dangerous belief in his invincibility, in his power sexually to dominate and abuse women without being stopped.”
The court also heard that months before the Mcdonald’s incidents, Couzens exposed himself to a female cyclist in an isolated part of rural Kent, but again police failed to investigate the matter properly.
Couzens – who was a member of the Met’s armed Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection command – was on duty and supposed to be working from home in Deal, Kent. Instead he drove to Ringwould Road, an isolated rural lane between Deal and Dover, where he exposed himself to a woman who had been cycling alone.
In her victim impact statement, the woman said the incident had left a “dark stain” on her life and she had since been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.
She said the failure of Kent Constabulary to investigate the matter properly had seriously eroded her confidence in the police.
Couzens, who is serving a whole life order for the kidnap, rape and murder of Miss Everard, appeared at the Old Bailey via videolink from the maximum security HMP Frankland.
The other offences, to which Couzens pleaded guilty, took place in February 2021 at a branch of Mcdonald’s at a service station in Swanley, Kent.
Despite the fact Couzens will never be released from prison, Mrs Justice May sentenced him to 19 months for the indecent exposures.
In her remarks, the judge said: “Without that persistence and fortitude by members of the public who have been offended against, justice could not happen.”