Met Police officers deny sharing ‘grossly offensive’ WhatsApp messages with Sarah Everard’s killer Wayne Couzens
THREE Met Police officers have denied sharing "grossly offensive" messages with Sarah Everard's evil killer.
PC Jonathon Cobban, PC William Neville and ex-cop Joel Borders allegedly shared the WhatsApp texts with Wayne Couzens before he raped and murdered Sarah.
The trio appeared at alongside each other in the dock at Westminster Magistrates' Court today.
Borders, 45, and Cobban, 35, pleaded not guilty to five charges of sending by public communication network an offensive, indecent, obscene, or menacing message or matter.
Neville, 33, denied two counts of the same charge.
The messages were allegedly sent on six dates between between April and August 2019 via a WhatsApp group chat.
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The court was told the officers dispute the texts were "grossly offensive" rather than just "offensive".
A trial is scheduled to take place at the same court on July 28.
The officer's names were revealed by the Crown Prosecution Service last month ahead of their first court appearance.
They previously confirmed they were unable to name the defendants due to operational reasons.
The Met has suspended the serving officers from duty following the charges.
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Couzens, who worked in the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command, lured the marketing executive into his car by fake arresting her using his warrant card.
He then drove her 80 miles to Kent where he raped her then used his police-issue belt to strangle her.
After his arrest, it emerged Couzens had slipped through the net despite colleagues branding him "the rapist" following a string of incidents.
The Government is now conducting a review of culture and standards within the London police force.
