Senior police officers joked Wayne Couzens would be ‘better off blaming it on the fact he is ginger’ after hearing details of the killer cop’s initial defence strategy while one used sexual innuendo, a tribunal heard today.
Couzens, 48, abducted and killed marketing executive Sarah Everard, 33, as she walked home near Clapham Common, south London, on March 3 last year, before dumping her body in a pond in Kent.
He claimed in his first court appearance on March 13 that he had ‘handed Ms Everard over alive to an Eastern European gang to pay off a debt’.
The details of this defence were shared by a journalist with senior member of the Police Federation Sergeant Simon Kempton, who is facing a misconduct hearing for discussing them with colleagues in a group on the Signal messaging app.
Mr Kempton, of Dorset Police, who was on secondment serving as treasurer of the federation, told the hearing today that he would be ‘beside himself’ if he believed he had added to the distress of Ms Everard’s family.
In one message, sent to eight other members of the Police Federation, which represents officers in England and Wales, Mr Kempton said: ‘Wait til you hear what his defence was today.’
Mr Kempton adds: ‘He said he used prostitutes and took one to a Travel Lodge type place in Folkestone,’ followed by: ‘He underpaid her so his family were being threatened by the gang.’
The details of Couzens’ defence were shared by a journalist with senior member of the Police Federation Sergeant Simon Kempton (pictured), who is facing a misconduct hearing for discussing them with colleagues in a Signal messaging group
One colleague jokes Couzens is ‘bettr off just blaming it on the fact he is ginger’ – which at least two colleagues reacted to with a laughing emoji
Mr Kempton continues: ‘They said, ‘…well you’d better get us another girl then …’
‘So he went and found Sarah and took her to a lay-by in Kent where a Mercedes Sprinter on Romanian plates flashed him. He handed her over and didn’t see her again.
‘Except he was seen on CCTV in B&Q and bought two builders bags.
‘And she was found in a builders bag.
‘So essentially coughing to kidnap but denying murder.’
The sergeant adds in the messages: ‘Admitted in interview to using prostitutes regularly at the same hotel.
‘No comment after they found the body and reinterviewed him.
‘He and his wife bought some land in Kent. Where Sarah’s body was found. I imagine the SIO will want to have a bit of a look around there.’
One colleague responds: ‘The old ‘slipped and fell’, the next thing I knew …”
He adds: ‘He is better off just blaming it on the fact he is ginger’ – which saw at least two colleagues react with laughing emojis.
Another says: ‘He had suffered a nasty bang to his head which might explain why he thought that excuse might fly.’
Mr Kempton is accused of breaching standards of police professional behaviour concerning respect and courtesy, duties and responsibilities, social media use and confidentiality.
It is further alleged his actions had the potential to undermine confidence in the police.
Wayne Couzens (pictured), 48, abducted and killed marketing executive Sarah Everard, 33, as she walked home near Clapham Common, south London, on March 3 last year, before dumping her body in a pond in Kent
Giving evidence at a hearing at Dorset Police headquarters, Mr Kempton denied wrongdoing.
He said he believed it was vital that everyone in the executive team was briefed about the case so they could discuss the stance to be taken in subsequent press releases.
‘We were talking about how we could play our part in building confidence and whether we needed to have any lines for the media prepared,’ he said.
He continued: ‘At that point, the federation, through me, we knew that (Couzens) had admitted at least one grave offence, and that changes things on a number of levels.’
As treasurer, Mr Kempton said he also had some involvement in claims from Police Federation members for legal funding.
‘My thought process went to the (legal funding) claims team, I was not aware at that point we had not had a request from Couzens for funding, but I thought it wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility that (Couzens) might think: ‘Blimey, I need to ask for that help’,’ he said.
‘Once we put out a press release, we can’t retrieve it, so for me that was the most urgent concern, followed by a claim for (for legal fees) that we may already have decided to fund.’
The press release subsequently issued by the Police Federation did not mention Couzens by name.
Mr Kempton said: ‘It was a deliberate decision, to make sure we focus on where we thought we should be, which was the Everard family, and it seems like a poor choice of words, but also to ‘distance’ ourselves from Mr Couzens.’
When asked about the tone of his messages, Mr Kempton said: ‘It was conversational and I regret that in light of where I am sat, but it is conversational because this is a conversation.’
He said the messages were ‘factual’ and he was repeating what he had been told by the journalist.
When asked if he believed the messages were discourteous to Couzens, he replied: ‘I do not, I am essentially repeating what Wayne Couzens has said.’
Mr Kempton denied they showed a lack of respect and courtesy to Sarah Everard’s family, saying: ‘I don’t accept that and that’s hurtful.’
He continued: ‘God only knows what they had already been through – if I had in any way contributed to their distress I would be beside myself.
‘I don’t think I did, but I would be beside myself.’
PC Duncan reported Sgt Kempton’s messages to the Metropolitan Police because he did not know where the information had come from at the time and was concerned there might be a leak within the force.
But he defended Sgt Kempton for posting the information on Tuesday.
He said: ‘I made an assumption at the time it had been obtained through gossip and it was wholly inappropriate.
‘Now knowing where it had come from, I believe he was right to do with that what he did.’
Mark Ley-Morgan, the barrister acting for Dorset Police, previously said the exchange of messages were ‘sarcastic, disparaging and cynical that disrespected the death of Sarah Everard’.
Mr Ley-Morgan said: ‘Was the officer sharing information with the Executive group for a justifiable reason or was he just gossiping?
‘We would say he had come into this information and he couldn’t wait to share it with the group even though they didn’t need to know.
‘He had no reason to share the information. The question is what should he have done once he was in possession of that information. He should have kept it to himself.
‘This wasn’t done because it was necessary, it was done to gossip and ran the risk of highly confidential information being put into the public domain.’
The misconduct hearing is due to conclude by Friday.
It comes after three Metropolitan Police officers accused of swapping grossly offensive messages with Couzens were named for the first time on Tuesday – including one who is a former anti-terror firearms officer just like Ms Everard’s killer.
PC Jonathan Cobban, PC William Neville and PC Joel Borders were named ahead of their court appearance next month.
William Neville (pictured), 33, lives in Surrey in a modern block of flats with his wife
PC Jonathan Cobban (pictured) and PC William Neville were named for the first time ahead of their court appearance next month
A third man, former PC Joel Borders, 45, has also been charged with sharing the offensive messages between April and August 2019
PC Borders, 45, has been charged with sharing the offensive messages between April and August 2019.
Borders, who now lists his job as a close protection officer, followed a similar career path to Couzens, having also previously served in the Civil Nuclear constabulary as a firearms officer.
He lists his skills as being an advanced driver, firearms and counter terrorism.
Couzens also worked for the CNC before joining the Met.
Cobban and Borders are charged with five counts of sending grossly offensive messages.
Neville, 33, who lives in Surrey in a modern block of flats with his wife, is charged with two counts of the same offence.
Their colleague Cobban, 35, who shares a modern detached house in Oxfordshire, will also face trial.
Neighbours of both Neville and Cobban were aware they were police officers but not of their alleged involvement with Couzens, who is serving a whole life sentence.
Both men have been suspended from the force after being charged with taking part in what the prosecution claim were ‘grossly offensive’ chats on WhatsApp.
All three men – who were identified by the Crown Prosecution Service after a row over their names being kept secret – will appear before Westminster Magistrates Court on March 16.
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