Scotland Yard is facing new revelations over the death of Sarah Everard, with seven officers accused of wrongly accessing case files about her abduction and murder.
The officers face disciplinary charges of gross misconduct, and the five currently serving could be sacked if found guilty, while all face bans from policing and even forfeiture of their pensions.
Everard went missing on 3 March 2021 as she walked home through south London during a Covid lockdown. Wayne Couzens, then an officer with the Metropolitan police, used his police powers and warrant card to lure her into a hire car before handcuffing her and driving her to Kent where she was raped and murdered, and her body burned and hidden in woods.
Metropolitan police bosses have made a new apology to Everard’s family for the fresh anguish caused.
Couzens was arrested at his Kent home on 9 March 2021 in connection with the disappearance and is serving a whole-life sentence.
The Met has decided not to suspend the five serving officers, instead placing them on restricted duties. They are PC Myles McHugh, PC Clare Tett, DC Tyrone Ward, DS Robert Butters and Sgt Mark Harper.
Two others have resigned from the force after being placed under investigation: they are a former trainee detective constable, Hannah Rebbeck, and a former inspector, Akinwale Ajose-Adeogun.
Tett and Ward are both accused of accessing “police systems on multiple occasions relating to the disappearance of Sarah Everard”. The other five are accused of accessing a single police data system, and all are accused of doing so with “no proper policing purpose” as it had nothing to do with their duties.
All bar one are alleged to have viewed the sensitive information after the news broke that a Met officer had been arrested in connection with Everard’s disappearance. McHugh is alleged to have viewed the sensitive information between 5 and 9 March, as news was released of Everard’s disappearance.
The deputy assistant commissioner Stuart Cundy said: “First and foremost our thoughts remain with Sarah Everards’s family. We have kept them updated throughout the investigation and have apologised to them for the added distress this has caused.
“All Met officers and staff should have no doubt of the rules around accessing files and they know there must be a legitimate policing purpose to do so. As well as mandatory training on this issue, they are regularly reminded of our policies when logging into IT systems.
“It is right this was subject to an investigation. It will now be for the hearing panel to look at all of the evidence and decide whether conduct matters are proven for any of these individuals.”
The discipline hearing will start on 28 October.
In February, the official inquiry into the scandal by Elish Angiolini found that catastrophically flawed vetting allowed Couzens first to join the police when he should have been rejected, then stay in policing and be entrusted with a gun. Chances to identify Couzens as a danger to women before he attacked Everard were missed.