London cop convicted of kidnap, rape and murder faces 4 new charges of indecent exposure
London — A former police officer jailed for life for the kidnap, rape and murder of a London woman as she walked home is now facing four charges of indecent exposure, Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Friday. The alleged offenses took place in the Swanley area of southeast England in late January and February last year, just before Wayne Couzens killed Sarah Everard on March 3.
"Following a referral of evidence by the Metropolitan Police, the CPS has authorized four charges of indecent exposure" against Couzens, head of the CPS special crime division Rosemary Ainslie said in a statement.
Couzens, who served with the force's diplomatic protection unit, will appear in court in London on April 13. He was given a whole-life jail term last September for Everard's murder and will be formally charged with the new offenses on a date yet to be fixed, police said.
As CBS News' Haley Ott reported, Couzens falsely arrested Everard as she walked home in south London in March 2021 on the pretense she had broken coronavirus restrictions. He then raped her, murdered her, and burned her body, which was discovered in a woodland outside the city a week after her disappearance.
Everard's killing sparked widespread protests across the U.K. against violence against women and, when a vigil in Everard's honor was roughly broken up by police, against heavy-handed policing.
"We are very pleased that Wayne Couzens has received a full life sentence and will spend the rest of his life in jail," Everard's family said in a statement after the verdict was handed down in September. "Nothing can make things better, nothing can bring Sarah back, but knowing he will be imprisoned forever brings some relief."
In response to the sentencing, the Metropolitan Police announced it would no longer deploy plain-clothed police officers on their own, and that it would only send them out in pairs, unless there were exceptional circumstances.
National Chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales John Apter said in a statement that, "this predator [Couzens] is an absolute disgrace to the police service, and I am totally ashamed that he was ever a police officer. I am proud to carry a warrant card, but this vile individual's abuse of that authority has cast a shadow on all those who work within policing. He has brought disgrace to our uniform. The way he took advantage of Sarah's trust makes me feel sick to the stomach."
