The police officer who murdered London resident Sarah Everard has been charged in connection with four alleged flashing incidents — the last just days before her death.
The Crown Prosecution Service said detectives had been authorised to charge 49-year-old Wayne Couzens with four counts of indecent exposure.
The charges may reignite the controversy over the Metropolitan Police Service's failure to vet its officers and act against Couzens, who has been accused of a series of sex offences over preceding years.
The offences allegedly took place over a five-week period. The first was between 22 January and 1 February 2021, the second between 30 January and 6 February, the third on 14 February — Valentines Day — and the fourth on 27 February. All occurred near Swanley in Kent, south-west of London
Just four days later, on 3 March, Couzens abducted Everard on a road by Clapham Common in inner south London, showing her his police warrant card — despite being in plain clothes — and accusing her of breaching COVID-19 lockdown rules to force her into his rented car.
The police constable drove his victim to near his home in Dover, Kent, where he raped and murdered her before hiding her body in the nearby woods. He later returned and burnt her body before dumping it in a pond.
Couzens was then serving in the Metropolitan Police's armed VIP protection unit, and had access to the Parliamentary estate.
The force drew further criticism for its heavy-handed crackdown on a vigil for Everard on Clapham Common a week after her murder — on the same pretext of lockdown restrictions.
Met Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick was forced to resign last month after Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he had lost confidence in her.