Sarah killer guarded MPs in the Commons
• Couzens had an ‘access all areas’ pass to Westminster • He paraded a prostitute at fellow police officer’s party
WAYNE COUZENS, the armed police officer who raped and murdered Sarah Everard, was regularly deployed to guard MPs at the Houses of Parliament, it was revealed last night.
Scotland Yard admitted for the first time that Couzens, 48, carried out protection duties in Westminster on five occasions between February and July last year, despite having a history of sexual deviance. Senior sources claimed he was even issued with an ‘access all areas’ pass to Parliament.
Couzens, who was given a whole life sentence this week for the kidnap, rape and murder of Miss Everard, is understood to have guarded various parts of the Commons and Lords.
He also is believed to have patrolled the US embassy while working in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command.
Last night it was reported that Couzens brought a prostitute to a police party at a hotel, while another sex worker turned up at the station he was based in, demanding money.
Couzens took a prostitute with him to a colleague’s tenth wedding anniversary party at the Hilton Hotel in Maidstone, Kent.
A source who was at the party told The Sun: ‘He was quite open about her being an escort. He said, “My wife can’t make it so I’ve brought this brass with me.”’
In another incident, a prostitute reportedly turned up at Couzens’ station when he was working in Bromley, South London, and demanded to speak to him because he owed her money. The Eastern
European woman refused to leave until she saw Couzens, and he had to be called back from patrol.
The report said he took her to a cashpoint and paid her money, later admitting to colleagues that she was a prostitute.
Embattled Met Commissioner Cressida Dick faced fresh calls to resign over the scandal amid growing demands for a full independent public inquiry. A new YouGov poll found that 38 per cent of people believed Dick should resign, compared with 27 per cent who thought she should stay and 35 per cent who were unsure.
Last night it was reported that 26 Met Police colleagues of Couzens have been convicted of sex crimes, including rape and possessing indecent images of children, since 2016. Two of the officers were jailed in April, a month after Sarah Everard was raped and murdered by Couzens in Kent.
Additionally, five Met officers carried out sex attacks while on duty since 2010 and one was recruited last year despite a conviction for indecent exposure.
The data was revealed by the Sunday Mirror following a Freedom of Information request. The newspaper reported that an additional 150 serving Met officers have convictions for other offences, ranging from assault to drugs.
The revelation about Couzens guarding Parliament, which came 24 hours after the Met said they would not be commenting on where he had worked, sparked anger from MPs – including Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
Last night, Sir Lindsay said he was ‘extremely concerned’ at the revelation and would be seeking answers from the Met Commissioner over ‘how this man could ever have crossed the parliamentary threshold’.
He said: ‘Like everyone, I have been sickened by the depravity of Wayne Couzens – and heartbroken for the family of Sarah Everard. I have asked the Met to meet me urgently to discuss how this person could have been deemed suitable for deployment here.’
The Speaker said he would also be seeking reassurance ‘that at no time was anyone on the parliamentary estate put at risk’.
Couzens’ role guarding the Commons will bring fresh questions over the vetting process of officers after it emerged he was nicknamed ‘the rapist’ by his colleagues.
He indecently exposed himself to women on at least three occasions, was addicted to ‘brutal’ pornography, habitually visited prostitutes and was reportedly the subject of three harassment claims by female officers by the time he murdered Miss Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, in March.
Labour MP Rosie Duffield said: ‘It’s chilling that someone whose nickname was “the rapist” was guarding MPs when we are told that we are protected by a ring of steel. Knowing now that we had a murderer in our midst, I’m sure all women working in Parliament will want to see a thorough security review.’
Ian Blair, who served as Met Commissioner from 2005 to 2008, said the force needed to be subjected to ‘an absolutely forensic’ investigation similar to the Stephen Lawrence inquiry led by Lord Macpherson that found the Met was ‘institutionally racist’. Critics have accused the force of being ‘institutionally misogynistic’ after Miss Everard’s murder.
Couzens received up to £10,000 in pay over four months after he was arrested in early March for Miss Everard’s murder, it emerged last night. He was not sacked by the Met until mid-July after he pleaded guilty to the killing.
Lord Blair told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that he wanted ‘an independent inquiry to try to discover what are the processes that allowed this man – who’s obviously a manipulative, homicidal maniac – to become a police officer’.
Home Secretary Priti Patel last night pledged £25million for more CCTV cameras in streets and other measures to ‘change the behaviour of perpetrators’. It came after Boris Johnson savaged the ‘infuriating’ failure of the Met to take violence against women seriously.