Monster's sickening tally of sex offences... yet a string of maior red flags were missed

KILLER constable Wayne Couzens committed sex offences for almost 30 years including four that police knew were linked to him while working as a serving officer, a damning inquiry found.

- Paul Jeeves

He remained unchecked until the murder of Sarah Everard in 2021. Yesterday Dame Elish Angiolini, who is leading a three-part inquiry, warned: "Wayne Couzens should never have been a police officer.

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

She unearthed evidence of him sexually assaulting a child and two men, attempting to kidnap a woman at knifepoint, and at least two rapes.

Couzens was also reported to police eight times for exposing himself from his car. At least three times officers identified him as the registered keeper of the vehicle but took no action. The report found three forces Kent, the Met and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) - failed to spot red flags when they "could and should have stopped him".

Sarah's parents Sue and Jeremy and her siblings Katie and James responded: "We believe that Sarah died because he was a police officer.

She would never have got into a stranger's car." Couzens, now 51, failed in his first bid to join the Kent force in 2004 but became a special constable in 2006. He failed vetting to become a regular in 2008 but continued to work as a volunteer officer.

He joined the CNC in 2011 – despite failing vetting because he had an Individual Voluntary Arrangement because of his debts and became a firearms officer.