Wayne Couzens sentenced on publicity fees from earlier than Sarah Everard homicide
In March 2021, Wayne Couzens, then a police officer, murdered Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old advertising and marketing government. The case sparked a nationwide public outcry over girls’s security and deeply undermined confidence in policing.
It has additionally drawn wider consideration to the tradition inside police forces across the nation. Last yr, the police watchdog discovered that tradition and safety lapses in police forces in England and Wales had been resulting in candidates with questionable backgrounds being cleared to affix.
On Monday, Couzens was sentenced to 19 months in jail for exposing himself to girls, together with at a McDonald’s drive-through simply 4 days earlier than Everard was killed.
This sentence will make no distinction to the period of time Couzens spends in jail, as he’s serving an entire life sentence for the homicide of Everard, essentially the most severe punishment he may have obtained.
In her judgment, which was televised by the BBC, May mentioned that the sentencing of the flashing incidents is a “public recognition that offenses have been committed,” and it famous the “impact on the victims.”
Stuart Cundy, deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, advised the BBC: “I’m really sorry for all they have had to go through. Like many, I wish that Wayne Couzens had been arrested for these offences before he went on to rape and murder Sarah Everard, and for that I’m sorry.”
But the ladies whom he uncovered himself to have mentioned that extra may have accomplished to cease Couzens, given the proof that has emerged exhibiting he was a serial intercourse offender earlier than killing Everard.
In her sentencing, May summarized among the offenses, together with the time in November 2020 when Couzens emerged bare from the timber on a quiet nation lane to masturbate in entrance of a bike owner, whereas “looking directly into [her] eyes as he did so.” He was on responsibility on the time.
The choose mentioned the bike owner reported the incident to some walkers, one in every of whom was a feminine police officer, after which reported it to the police, however nobody adopted up along with her.
In her impression assertion learn out in court docket, the feminine bike owner mentioned that her “freedom” to “walk on my own, or to cycle to the railway station, without fear, are now denied to me.”
“Four months after you exposed yourself to me, you raped and murdered an innocent woman,” she mentioned. “There were opportunities to identify you, and they were not taken. I did not feel that, when I reported your crime, it was taken as seriously as I felt that it should have been.”
On two different events, on Feb. 14 and 27, 2021, Couzens uncovered himself to workers at a McDonald’s drive-through whereas handing over cash to pay for his meals. On the second event, workers reported the license plate variety of the automotive, which was registered in Couzens’s identify. He additionally paid for meals utilizing a bank card in his identify.
One workers member mentioned that regardless that the incident was reported, she was not contacted till after Everard’s homicide.
“If he had been held accountable when we had reported the crime, we could have saved Sarah,” mentioned the worker.
She added that she not walks house after her shifts.
“It should not be for me to have to take measures to keep myself safe,” she mentioned in a press release. “I should not have to be in fear of somebody attacking me and I should feel able to walk home while feeling safe.”
Annabelle Timsit contributed to this report.