WIREDGOV

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) can now provide an update on its linked investigations following recently (30 September) sentencing of former Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Police Constable Wayne Couzens for the murder of Sarah Everard.

After the hearing IOPC Regional Director Sal Naseem recently said:

“I would again wish to extend our deepest sympathies to Sarah Everard’s family and all those affected by her death.

“She was a young woman with her life ahead of her and it is shocking that it was ended in such truly awful circumstances.

“Couzens’ betrayal of the public’s trust in him as a police officer can only have added to her family’s distress.

“It is only right that the public are now protected from this dangerous individual.

“We cannot provide updates for some of our investigations linked to Couzens, which are ongoing, but following today’s sentencing we will look to bring those matters to a conclusion as swiftly as possible. We are, however, able to provide information about others, including those that are either concluded or nearing completion.” 

Those investigations are:

An investigation into allegations that a probationary MPS police constable shared an inappropriate graphic, depicting violence against women, with colleagues via Whatsapp.

Our investigation, which has concluded, found that the graphic was intended to be in reference to the kidnap and murder of Ms Everard by a serving officer. We established that the officer was off duty at the time but subsequently staffed a cordon as part of the search for Ms Everard. The officer was investigated for gross misconduct for potentially breaching police standards of professional behaviour for authority, respect, courtesy and conduct. Two other probationary constables were investigated for gross misconduct on the basis that they had allegedly shared the graphic and failed to challenge it.

We provided our report and conclusions to the MPS last month (August) and we will shortly decide what further action will be taken.

An investigation into the conduct of five officers from three forces and one former officer who allegedly sent discriminatory messages as part of a Whatsapp group between March and October 2019.

The mobile phone messages were discovered during the police investigation into Ms Everard’s murder.

Three of the serving officers are with the MPS, one from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) and one from Norfolk Constabulary. The former officer was previously with the MPS.

They are being investigated for gross misconduct for allegedly sending messages of a discriminatory and/or inappropriate nature, and for allegedly failing to challenge the messages sent by the others.

Two of the MPS officers and the former MPS officer have also been notified that they are being criminally investigated for improper use of the public electronic communications network under Section 127 of the Communications Act.

Criminal or gross misconduct investigations do not necessarily mean that charges or disciplinary proceedings will follow.

An investigation into allegations that officers from several forces breached standards of professional behaviour when they used a messaging app to share information connected to the prosecution of Couzens.  

One officer was investigated for gross misconduct as there was an indication they had shared details presented in court from an interview given by Couzens under caution, when there was no policing purpose to do so. A further six officers were served with misconduct notices as there was an indication that they failed to challenge the sharing of the information, and that two of them also joined in the conversation.

Our investigation report and conclusions were shared with the forces last month (August) and we will publish our findings when we have made final decisions for all of the officers over what further action will be taken.

An investigation into the circumstances surrounding how Couzens sustained head injuries in custody on 10 and 12 March after he had been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Our inquiries, concluded last month (August), established that the injuries were self-inflicted. We found that correct policies and procedures were followed and we did not identify any conduct or learning issues for the MPS.