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The three Met officers accused of allegedly sharing extremely offensive messages with Sarah Everard’s killer, Wayne Couzens, were finally named by the Crown Prosecution Service today as it retracted after a row of secrecy.
The three officers, two of whom are still on duty, are accused of sharing racist and misogynistic texts with the former protection officer about two years before he kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard.
The CPS announced that the trio was accused of sending extremely offensive messages via WhatsApp between April and August 2019. But the CPS withheld their names for “operational reasons,” prompting claims that they were receiving “special treatment.”
Today, the officers were identified as Pc Jonathon Cobban, 35, Pc William Neville, 33, and former Constable Joel Borders, 45.
Charged
Cobban and Borders have been charged with five counts of sending extremely offensive messages on a public communications network in contravention of S127 of the Communications Act 2003.
Neville has been charged with two counts of sending extremely offensive messages on a public communications network in contravention of S127 of the Communications Act 2003.
The CPS announced earlier this month that the trio had been accused of sending extremely offensive messages via WhatsApp between April and August 2019.
The decision to withhold their names came after a Supreme Court ruling that confirmed criminal suspects have a right to privacy, meaning the press cannot name them before charging them with a crime unless there is adequate justification. public interest to do so.
Despite this ruling, defendants, including police officers like Couzens, are identified when charged, so the decision to withhold names was highly unusual.
The decision to hide the identities is not believed to have been made by Scotland Yard or the IOPC, and a source said both bodies did not agree to anonymity. MPs and lawyers criticized the decision as “ridiculous” and “a farce”.
Investigation
Sarah Everard, 33, was kidnapped, raped and murdered by Couzens in March of last year.
Detectives investigating Couzens after Miss Everard’s murder found the allegedly offensive material on one of the killer’s old phones. The two serving officers were assigned to restricted duties, but Scotland Yard confirmed they have now been suspended.
After an investigation, the IOPC sent a file to the CPS this month. The three officers will appear in Westminster magistrates’ court on March 16.
Former Parliamentary Protection Officer Couzens, 48, was sentenced to life in prison at the Old Bailey last September after pleading guilty in July.
Miss Everard disappeared while walking home from her south London home last March and was later discovered on a vacant lot more than 50 miles away in Kent strangled.
Couzens used the Covid sidewalks at the time and her warrant card to stop her victim on the street and take her to a rental car.
The IOPC said: ‘The IOPC investigation began following a referral from the MPS in April last year (2021) and was completed in December when we referred a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
“CPS has made the decision to authorize charges against the officers.”
The three suspects will appear for the first time in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on March 16.
