Berliner Tageblatt - UK enquiry urges police vetting 'overhaul' after officer murdered woman

Wayne Couzens, who served with the London Metropolitan Police's diplomatic protection squad, is serving a life sentence for kidnapping and killing 33-year-old Sarah Everard in London in March 2021.

Her death shocked the United Kingdom, sparked protests and fuelled mistrust of the police.

The enquiry commissioned by Britain's interior ministry found that three separate police forces "repeatedly ignored" warning signs about Couzens, including prior alleged sexual offences going back 20 years and money problems.

"Wayne Couzens was never fit to be a police officer," said Elish Angiolini, the author of the report on the enquiry, which was published on Thursday.

"Failures in recruitment and vetting meant Couzens was able to continue a pleasing career which should have been denied to him."

Angiolini said police chiefs need to "radically transform their approach to police culture" and urged every police force in the country to "read this report and take immediate action".

"Without a significant overhaul, there is nothing to stop another Couzens operating in plain sight," she said.

Angiolini called for an urgent review of indecent exposure charges against serving officers and said reports of the crime need to be taken seriously.

She also recommended that any new candidate applying to become a police officer should undergo an in-person interview and home visit.

Couzens was given a rare whole-life jail term in September 2021 for murdering Everard.

He arrested her as she walked home in south London, on the false pretence she had broken coronavirus restrictions.

"We believe that Sarah died because he was a police officer –- she would never have got into a stranger’s car," her family said in a statement Thursday.

The Met apologised in March last year for not picking up on indecent exposure offences committed by Couzens before Everard's murder.

In the weeks before he killed her, Couzens had exposed himself twice at drive-through fast-food restaurant.

He was not caught despite driving his own car and using his own credit card.

Angiolini's report concluded that many more women and girls could have been victims of the ex-officer, including "a child barely into her teens".

Reacting to the report, UK interior minister James Cleverly said Everard was "failed in more ways than one by the people who were meant to keep her safe".

Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley described Angiolini's findings as "an urgent call to action for all of us in policing".

The inquiry is also looking into the crimes of another officer, David Carrick, who has also been jailed for life for dozens of rapes and sexual assaults stretching back two decades.

A separate report published in November 2022 found that a culture of misogyny and predatory behaviour is "prevalent" in many police forces across England and Wales, fuelled by lax vetting standards.

H.Seidel--BTB