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Wayne Couzens charged with two further counts of indecent exposure

Wayne Couzens charged with two further counts of exposure - AFP
Wayne Couzens charged with two further counts of exposure - AFP

Wayne Couzens, the former police officer who murdered Sarah Everard, has been charged with two further offences of indecent exposure, prosecutors have said.

The new allegations against the 49-year-old are related to events said to have taken place in June 2015 and November 2020.

Couzens now faces a total of six charges of indecent exposure between 2015 and 2021.

A trial date has yet to be set for the first four allegations and Couzens will appear in court on September 2 to answer the new ones.

Scotland Yard said in a statement that the alleged 2015 offence took place in the Dover area and the 2020 allegation took place in the Deal area.

No other details about the circumstances of the alleged flashing incidents have been provided by prosecutors.

Rosemary Ainslie, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) special crime division, said: “The CPS has authorised two further charges of exposure against Wayne Couzens, following a referral of evidence by the Metropolitan Police.

“Wayne Couzens will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 2 September 2022.

“The function of the CPS is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges to a court to consider.

“The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against Wayne Couzens are active and that he has the right to a fair trial.”

The flashing charges came after reports of the alleged incidents first emerged in the aftermath of Couzens’s conviction for Ms Everard’s rape and murder, when it was claimed he had flashed a woman at a McDonald’s fast food outlet.

Sarah Everard - PA
Sarah Everard - PA

The incident was reported to the police and officers attended the scene, but no arrests were made.

The final two charges announced by the CPS in March were understood to relate to the incidents being investigated by the IOPC.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) launched an investigation into two officers for possible misconduct over the failure to identify Couzens prior to the abduction of Ms Everard.

Couzens not vetted when transferred to the Met

Couzens was also investigated by Kent Police in 2015 after a man claimed to have spotted him driving naked from the waist down. Despite being identified as a suspect, he was not arrested and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), where he was working as an armed officer at the time, was not informed.

It meant that when he was transferred to the Metropolitan Police in 2018, he was not vetted.

Last September, he was sentenced to a whole-life tariff for the abduction, rape and murder of Ms Everard.

The marketing executive, 33, had been visiting a friend on the evening of March 3 2021 near Clapham Common when she decided to walk back to her Brixton home shortly after 9pm.

As she made her way down Poynders Road she was approached by Couzens in a hire vehicle.

Seconds later he was picked up on CCTV touching his belt and holding up his hand, flashing his warrant card at Ms Everard.

He then handcuffed her and placed her in the back of his Vauxhall Crossland hire car before driving away with her.

During his two-day sentencing hearing last year, the court heard how Couzens strangled Ms Everard with his police-issue belt after he raped her in his car.

On June 8, he pleaded guilty to kidnap and rape. And a month later on July 9, he pleaded guilty to Ms Everard’s murder.