New details of Couzens’ sex crimes emerged at his sentencing hearing (Picture: PA / Getty)
Wayne Couzens was supposed to be working from home when he exposed himself to a woman months before murdering Sarah Everard, a court has heard.
The former Metropolitan Police officer, 50, appeared before the Old Bailey on Monday to be sentenced for three acts of indecent exposure between November 2020 and February 2021.
He already serving a whole life sentence for abducting Sarah as she walked home before raping her and strangling her in March 2021.
In November 2020, he emerged naked from a woodland near his home in Deal, Kent, and masturbated while staring at a woman who cycled past.
An inquiry will look into whether Sarah’s murder could have been prevented (Picture: PA)
Prosecutors said the ‘scared and shaken’ woman told an off-duty female police officer who happened to be walking nearby and said she would investigate.
The victim, who saw Couzens’ black Seat parked up the road, also reported the incident online to Kent police.
But inquiries hit a dead end as there was no number plate on the vehicle, the court heard.
Couzens appeared via video link from prison sporting a long beard (Picture: PA)
Tom Little KC, prosecuting, said on Monday that Couzens was due to work from home between 8am and 4pm that day, adding: ‘It follows that he was on duty at the time of the offence.’
The revelation raises further questions over whether police missed chances to catch him before the murder.
After two further incidents where he showed his penis to staff at a drive-thru in February 2021, he was interviewed under caution and admitted to using the restaurant regularly.
But he denied exposing himself, and no further action was taken.
Neither incident was reported to police until the day after Couzens’ second visit, when staff recalled the Seat’s full number plate and identified it from CCTV.
The women were left ‘shaken, upset and angry’ when he showed them his erect penis from the driver seat of his car while paying for food, the court heard.
The court was told he also used his own credit card to pay, while traffic cameras and cell data placed his car in the area at the time of both incidents.
Couzens pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent exposure in February.
He had denied three other indecent exposure charges relating to three alleged further incidents in 2015 and 2021. The charges are expected to be left on court file.
An independent inquiry has been opened into Couzens’ earlier sex crimes and whether police missed chances to stop him before he murdered Sarah Everard.
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New details of Couzens’ sex crimes raise further questions over whether he could have been stopped before he murdered Sarah Everard.