Yahoo News Deleted video of woman being murdered by police officer found at Wayne Couzens home
A damning inquiry into Sarah Everard's killer has revealed series of shocking missed opportunities that could have prevented her murder.
A deleted video of a woman being murdered by a police officer was recovered from Wayne Couzens's home during the investigation into the murder of Sarah Everard, a damning report has revealed.
The Angiolini Inquiry, published on Thursday, revealed extensive details of the investigation into Couzens's life and the failures of the Metropolitan Police when it came to hiring and retaining him as an officer.
As part of this, the inquiry revealed several details about what the police collected from Couzen's home as they carried out their investigation.
According to the report, police recovered several mobile phones, a laptop and a USB stick from his house, all of which contained pornography. The report said they found a film which referenced rape and contained the storyline of a woman being murdered by an impotent police officer after she taunts him.
It says: "When Couzens was arrested for the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021, a search of his home address resulted in the seizure of various devices including mobile phones, a laptop and a USB stick, which were forensically analysed and from which digitally stored evidence was recovered.
"A Metropolitan Police Service officer who reviewed downloaded data told the inquiry that “[t]here was pornography across all of his devices, but there was nothing that led me in the direction of thinking that there was a fixation on a specific area”.
"Two previously deleted 'sexploitation' video files were recovered. As well as referencing rape, the storyline of one film involves the murder of a woman by an impotent police officer after she taunts him."
The report noted Couzens denied accessing the films and being in possession of them was not unlawful.
Following the publication of the report, chairwoman Lady Elish Angiolini said she was "astonished" to learn that Couzens passed vetting for the Metropolitan Police.
The report found several other shocking details about Couzens and the failures of the Met.
Child porn found on several devices
Among Couzens's extensive porn collection were 19 unlawful images of children across three devices. Police said two of these images were graded as the most severe Category A, with most of the recent being Category C which is the least indecent.
The report noted Couzens denied ever downloading or viewing indecent images of children and no charges were ever brought against him.
Allegation of child sexual assault
The report found that by the time Couzens resigned from Kent Special Constabulary he already had a history of abusive sexual activity.
The report notes: "These behaviours ranged from intimidation, sexual touching, sharing unsolicited photographs of his penis and showing extreme pornography. Even more seriously the inquiry claimed there was "an alleged very serious sexual assault against a child barely into her teens."
Allegation of rape
After Couzens' arrest, several other alleged offences were brought to light by the media and police. Among these included reports of rape by two women. The first is alleged to have happened between November 2006 and January 2007 and took place after a singles dating event at a bar in East London. The police said no further action was taken due to insufficient evidence.
The second allegation was in October 2019 and reportedly took place below a bridge in London. Police said they took no further action was made on the basis of "evidential difficulties".
Allegations of indecent exposure
Couzens has been accused of indecent exposure several times over the years and has pleaded guilty to three of them. The report found two of the investigations in 2015 and 2021 were "poor quality" and were "destined to fail".
The inquiry said: "Rather than embarking on a process of detailed, thorough and time-consuming evidence-gathering, the officers displayed apathy and disinterest and found reasons not to pursue the cases."
Among the most troubling incidents was in 2015 when Couzens exposed himself while driving in Dover. A member of the public reported this to the police and provided details of the car that Couzens was driving, including its number plate.
Police made an appointment with a member of the public to speak to them more, but they missed the appointment and the police closed the case "after the informant’s reliability was questioned and [they] declined any further involvement."
