Cops who sexually harass women are allowed to stay in their jobs even in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder

COPS who sexually harass women are allowed to stay in their jobs even in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder, The Sun can reveal.

London’s Metropolitan force has been blasted for not kicking out twisted officer Wayne Couzens before he had the chance to kill Sarah.


Colleagues dubbed him “The Rapist” and he faced three accusations of indecent exposure before kidnapping raping and strangling 33-year-old Sarah in Clapham, South West London, in March.

Campaigners say chief constables are failing to weed out dangerous offenders within their midst.

Since 2009, 15 women have been killed by serving or former police officers.

They include mother-of-two Claire Parry, 41 — choked to death in May last year by Dorset constable Timothy Brehmer, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

There have been more than 800 allegations of domestic abuse against officers and support staff in the past five years. Only five per cent of the cases went to court.

According to recent Freedom Of Information data, 52 per cent of Met officers found to have committed sexual misconduct — 43 officers — stayed in their job.

And more than 200 serving police officers have convictions for assault, animal cruelty and other offences.

Former policewoman Alice Vinten fears we could see another Wayne Couzens if stronger action is not taken.

She told The Sun: “Couzens isn’t just one police officer who has killed women. There are others.

“And I fear there are more like him, still serving, who could go on to kill.
“It is still happening all the time that police officers are up before hearings for violence or sexual misconduct.

“Some are getting weeded out, some are not.”

Since Couzens’ arrest in March, other police officers have remained in post despite internal hearings finding they had acted inappropriately towards women.

A British Transport Police officer received a “final written warning” after he “attempted to abuse his position for a sexual purpose”.

In London, a sergeant used “vulgar language” to a female colleague, made sexual remarks about a member of the public, referred to a transgender women in “derogatory” terms — and still kept his job.

A Manchester officer who made “inappropriate contact” with two female colleagues was given a “final written warning”.

And in April it was revealed that a Met Police cop had not been suspended even after the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority awarded compensation to two female colleagues who alleged he had raped them.

He has not been charged with an offence and is still awaiting his disciplinary hearing, three years after the allegations were reported.

One victim said he cracked her ribs when he threw her against the arm of a sofa.

The inconsistency in standards is demonstrated by the overzealous approach of West Yorkshire’s force. In July PC James Wright was dismissed for “removing a quantity of coffee” during a search of a property.

POLICE SCANDALS

Our research also shows the depth of the problem in Britain’s forces.

This month two officers were found to have sent offensive messages about women while in the Met.

One, who was taking steroids, indicated he would harm the colleague who had complained about him.

In Devon and Cornwall a police officer filmed himself performing a solo sex act in a police station toilet.

A West Yorkshire policeman uploaded an image of his private parts on to a swingers’ website and started a relationship with a victim of coercive control.

And in Manchester a PC sent “inappropriate” images to a child while on duty. None of them are now in uniform.

But the cases show that Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick was downplaying the extent of the problems when she said about Couzens: “On occasion, I have a bad ’un.”

Alice, who left the force in 2015, argues that a macho culture allows these kinds of offences to take place and that many go unreported.

She says: “The women who report offences are ostracised.

“There is still an attitude of not reporting your mates.”

When she was in the Met, she says male officers would tell each other which streets to pass by so that they could ogle women in short skirts.

They also rated female colleagues according to their attractiveness and whether a new recruit was “f***able”.

Alice also had “porn pushed in my face at work”.

'DISMISSED AS BANTER'

This type of behaviour was dismissed as banter and people who complained were told to get a sense of humour.

Alice says: “If you allow the small incidents to go unreported you allow people like Couzens to think they can take it a step further.”

Criminologist David Wilson, agrees that all sexual misconduct needs to be stamped out.

He says: “Offences such as upskirting, indecent exposure and voyeurism are a predictor of future sexual offences of other kinds.”

Both Alice and David say the majority of serving officers are decent people who would never commit offences.

The offenders are a small percentage of the 125,000 officers in England and Wales. But these rotten apples must be dealt with.

Alice believes this is the moment for chief constables, the courts and disciplinary panels to get tough.

She concludes: “What women need is reassurance that the police can be trusted.

“There needs to be a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment by police officers.

“If it doesn’t change now after the Couzens case, when will it?”

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