Wayne Couzens guarded MPs at Commons despite history of sex claims
VILE Wayne Couzens guarded MPs at the House of Commons despite a history of sex accusations.
The former Met cop - who was given the twisted nickname The Rapist by colleagues - carried out duties in Westminster at least five times, it has been revealed.
Evil Couzens was issued with an "access-all-areas" pass, a senior parliamentary source told
However, a House of Commons spokesman has denied this insisting the officer was given a "temporary pass" which gave him "limited access" to Parliament.
He told The Sun: "Wayne Couzens was never issued with a Parliamentary pass.
"He accessed the Parliamentary Estate with a MPS-issued temporary pass which gives limited access to the Parliamentary Estate.
"These passes are issued to police officers in PADP who are not regularly posted to the Parliamentary Estate. They are issued at the beginning of the shift, returned at the end, and are tightly controlled."
The sicko raped and murdered Sarah Everard after pretending to arrest her in Clapham, South London in March.
He was sentenced to a whole life order on Thursday and will die behind bars - where he is on suicide watch.
The Met previously refused to give details about his posting at Parliament, and in a statement last week claimed that his "primary role was to patrol diplomatic premises, mainly embassies."
But after inquiries from Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, it was revealed he had been sent multiple times to guard MPs.
A Met spokeswoman said: “Couzens was deployed to armed static protection duties on the Parliamentary Estate on five occasions from February to July 2020."
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The revelation has sparked fury from politicians who believed they were working in a safe building - with Sir Hoyle saying he was "extremely concerned" by the disclosure and would be demanding answers from Dame Cressida Dick.
"Like everyone, I have been sickened by the depravity of Wayne Couzens — and heartbroken for the family of Sarah Everard," he said.
"I have asked the Met to meet me urgently to discuss how this person could have been deemed suitable for deployment here. Further, I will be seeking reassurance that at no time was anyone on the parliamentary estate put at risk."
It was previously revealed that Couzens received a tax-payer funded salary for three MONTHS totalling around £10,000 after killing Sarah, 33.
The Met Police said that Couzens only stopped being paid his officer salary after he pleaded guilty to raping and murdering Sarah on July 9.
But the disgusting crimes occurred on March 3 - meaning that the killer continued to collect money from his tax-payer funded job for three months until he was officially sacked by the force.
Couzens was an officer in the Met's Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, where the average salary is more than £37,000 a year.
SICKO JAILED
He used the guise of a Covid patrol to trick Sarah Everard into handcuffs, placed her in the back of a car, before he raped and strangled her with his police belt.
Harrowing details of Sarah's murder were revealed for the first time in court this week.
The Old Bailey heard how Couzens used his warrant card to lure Sarah into his car as she walked home by claiming he was on a Covid patrol.
In chilling footage, the young woman can be seen in the back of his car before she was horrifically murdered by the sick cop.
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Just five minutes later, terrified Sarah was driven for 80 miles from London to Kent at the start of a “lengthy ordeal” that was to lead “inexorably to her rape and murder".
At his sentencing, Sarah's heartbroken dad Jeremy said: "The horrendous murder of my daughter, Sarah, is in my mind all the time and will be for the rest of my life."
HOW YOU CAN GET HELP:
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – [email protected].
Women’s Aid provides a - available every day from 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
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