Wayne Couzens: Sarah Everard killer charged with four counts of indecent exposure

The alleged offences are thought to have taken place just weeks before he murdered and kidnapped Sarah Everard

Former Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens is currently in prison serving a life sentence (PA)

Wayne Couzens, the police officer who murdered Sarah Everard, has been charged with four counts of indecent exposure.

The alleged offences are thought to have taken place between 22 January and 27 February 2021, weeks before he kidnapped raped and murdered Ms Everard and when Couzens was a serving Metropolitan Police officer.

Dates of Couzens’ alleged indecent exposure include between 22 January and 1 February; between 30 January and 6 February and on 27 February.

Rosemary Ainslie, head of the CPS Special Crime Division, said: “Following a referral of evidence by the Metropolitan Police, the CPS has authorised four charges of indecent exposure against Wayne Couzens.

“The four alleged offences took place between January and February 2021,” she added.

Couzens will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 13 April following the charges.

Ms Ainslie continued:“The function of the CPS is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges to a court to consider.”

It is just over one year since 33-year-old Ms Everard was disappeared whilst walking home from a visit to a friend’s house in south London.

It was later discovered that she had been kidnapped, raped and murdered by then-serving Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens.

Her disappearance led to a mass search across south London and six days later Couzens was arrested in Kent.

Ms Everard’s remains were found in woodland near to Ashford, Kent.

Couzens used his warrant card and handcuffs to kidnap Ms Everard, using Covid-19 lockdown rules as a pretext for her arrest.

Mr Couzens is now serving a whole-life jail term.