Sarah Everard: Met Police PCs charged with sharing offensive messages with Wayne Couzens

Two Metropolitan Police officers and a former officer charged with sharing grossly offensive messages with Sarah Everard's killer Wayne Couzens have been named for the first time.

Pc Jonathan Cobban, 35, Pc William Neville, 33, and ex-constable Joel Borders, 45, are accused of sharing the messages with Couzens before he raped and murdered Ms Everard in March 2021.

Although they were charged last week, the force said they could not be named for "operational reasons".

Cobban and Borders have both been charged with five counts of sending grossly offensive messages, while Neville has been charged with two counts of the same offence.

They will all appear at Westminster Magistrate's Court on March 16.

The alleged messages were sent between April and August 2019, and were found when the IPOC launched a probe into claims of "discriminatory" messages being sent over WhatsApp.

Rosemary Ainslie, Head of the CPS Special Crime Division, said: “Following a referral of evidence by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the CPS has authorised charges against two serving Metropolitan Police officers and one former officer.

“PC Jonathon Cobban, 35, PC William Neville, 33, and former officer Joel Borders, 45, will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 16 March for their first hearing.

“Each of the three defendants has been charged with sending grossly offensive messages on a public communications network. The alleged offences took place on a WhatsApp group chat."

Couzens is serving a whole-life sentence for his attack on Ms Everard, in which he lured her into his car using his warrant card and faking an arrest.

He drover her 80 miles away to Kent where he attempted to hide her body in a builder's bag.

Couzens had previously served in the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command.