When serving firearms officer Wayne Couzens kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard, public trust in Britain’s police forces plummeted to an all-time low.
The horrific murder of the 33-year-old marketing executive put a spotlight on violence against women and girls – but it also exposed several more ‘bad apple’ officers hiding in plain sight and abusing their power.
Just 24 hours after the killer cop was sentenced to life behind bars, a woman attacked by an officer in the same Met Police unit as Couzens came forward to say she had been raped.
The attacker she had reported was David Carrick – a serving police officer who would go on to admit dozens of rapes and sexual offences against 12 women across a 17-year campaign of violence.
A year prior, depraved Met Police counter terrorism officer Neil Corbel was jailed for using hidden spy cameras in phone chargers to secretly film models naked as he pretended to be a glamour photographer.
And two other Met Police officers, PCs Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis, were jailed for taking photos of two murdered sisters and sharing the images on WhatsApp groups.
But the twisted predators who lie within positions of power stretch beyond Britain’s biggest force.
When serving firearms officer Wayne Couzens kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard, public trust in Britain’s police forces plummeted to an all-time low
The BBC has released a documentary about the murder of Sarah Everard (pictured) and the ensuing police investigation
Greater Manchester Police cadet leader Adnan Ali groomed his recruits, South Wales Police officer Lewis Edwards blackmailed young girls into sending explicit photos and Humberside Police officer Simon Miller took advantage of a vulnerable woman for sex at a women’s refuge.
looks at these disgraced officers in detail after a new BBC documentary was released about Ms Everard’s murder and the ensuing police investigation.
Towards the end of the documentary, Debaleena Dasgupta, a solicitor for the Centre for Women’s Justice who represented the first Carrick victim, says: ‘The suggestion that Couzens was an individual on some sort of frolic of his own was unacceptable.
‘Police perpetrated abuse, violence, domestic abuse, sexual assault, rape is not new because solicitors like me have been acting for women in this sort of claim for years.’
David Carrick – jailed in February 2023
Carrick became one of Britain’s most prolific rapists when he was jailed for a minimum of 30 years.
The 49-year-old was a Met officer for 20 years until his arrest in 2021. From 2009 he served in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Unit, which requires one of the highest security clearances for a police officer.
Carrick – who served in the same unit as Couzens – was convicted of 85 offences, including 48 rapes against a dozen women.
Many of the victims he raped he had been in a relationship with, met through a dating app or were his colleagues. He told his victims: ‘I’m a police officer, you’re safe with me.’
One of his victims revealed in the BBC’s documentary that she was inspired to come forward after listing to Ms Everard’s mother’s victim impact statement at Couzens’ sentencing in September 2021.
‘Sophie’ – not her real name – said she ‘just knew’ she had to report the evil predator after hearing Susan Everard condemn Couzens.
David Carrick (pictured) became one of Britain’s most prolific rapists when he was jailed for a minimum of 30 years
Mrs Everard had made a heartbreaking victim impact statement in court paying tribute to her ‘precious little girl’ and slamming her killer who ‘masqueraded as a policeman in order to get what he wanted’.
Sophie, who said Mrs Everard’s words ‘echoed’ within her, then found the courage to tell police what Carrick had done to her.
Carrick was last month stripped of most of his £22,000 pension by London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Neil Corbel – jailed in January 2022
Detective Inspector Neil Corbel posed as an airline pilot and a fake glamour photographer to picture up to 51 naked women.
He ‘used his anti-terror skills’ to secretly film the women with spy cameras hidden in tissue boxes, phone charges, glasses and keys after contacting them under the guise of being an airline pilot named Harrison.
Police found a total of 51 recordings, of which only 14 were deemed consensual or recorded outside the jurisdiction, while a further six were never traced. Detectives identified 31 of the women and 19 agreed to make statements.
Corbel, a married father-of-two who was part of the team involved with the London Bridge terror attack in June 2017, recorded the women using multiple devices on 21 occasions.
Sixteen of his victims were models booked for bogus photoshoots, while three were sex workers. They consented to sexual activity, but not to being recorded.
He was jailed for three years after admitting 19 counts of voyeurism at Isleworth Crown Court in January 2022.
Detective Inspector Neil Corbel (pictured) posed as an airline pilot and a fake glamour photographer to picture up to 51 naked women
Corbel resigned from his role following the conviction, but a Met Police misconduct hearing ruled he would have been dismissed without notice if he had still been part of the force.
In a victim impact statement, one of the women cited the murder of Ms Everard as she described the traumatic impact of one photoshoot.
She said: ‘I’ll never get those images out of my head. When you’re a sex worker, consent is vital.
‘In this case, I absolutely did not give him permission to film me, therefore I did not give consent. It has made me feel very powerless and fearful of the same thing happening again.
‘Following the murder of Sarah Everard this feels like a very frightening time to be a woman. If we can’t turn to the police to protect us, what are we supposed to do?’
PCs Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis – jailed in December 2021
These two disgraced constables were jailed for taking photos of two murdered sisters and sharing the images.
PCs Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis were assigned to protect the cordon of a murder scene after Nicole Smallman, 27, and Bibaa Henry, 46, were stabbed to death in a Wembley park in June 2020 by 19-year-old devil worshipper, Danyal Hussein.
But instead the two officers took six photographs of their bodies, which were sent on WhatsApp to a group of police officers and members of the public including a doctor and a dentist.
As they stood at an inner cordon, Lewis messaged colleagues saying: ‘Unfortunately I am sat next to the two dead birds with stab wounds.’
PCs Deniz Jaffer (left) and Jamie Lewis were jailed for taking photos of two murdered sisters and sharing the images
Jaffen then crept beyond the cordon to take more photos on his phone – but a colleague reported them after witnessing them prowling around the scene and seeing the shocking messages.
When they were caught, Jaffer insisted that the images had been deleted. But Mrs Smallman, who was the Church of England’s first black female archdeacon, learned that one of the men had kept a copy.
The shamed pair were released in April 2023 after serving less than 17 months of their sentence. They had been jailed for two years and nine months in December 2021 for misconduct in public office.
PC Adnan Ali – jailed in June 2023
Greater Manchester Police officer Adnan Ali sexually assaulted three victims, aged between 15 and 18, while working on the cadet scheme and apprenticeship programme between 2015 and 2018.
Liverpool Crown Court heard he sent sexual messages which were ‘bordering on relentless’ and ‘deliberately ignored’ guidelines for cadet schemes which included principles of respect and safeguarding.
One of his victims was sexually assaulted while on a cadet camp, while other incidents took place in an office and in a car, the court was told.
Ali, of Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, was convicted of 15 counts of misconduct in a public office and five sexual assaults.
He was subsequently jailed for five years in June 2023, when a judge told him: ‘The reputational damage you have caused to Greater Manchester Police and the police service generally and to cadet and apprentice schemes is huge.’
Greater Manchester Police officer Adnan Ali (pictured) sexually assaulted three victims, aged between 15 and 18, while working on the cadet scheme
It was yet another example of a person in power at the police abusing their power.
Greater Manchester deputy mayor Kate Green said at the time: ‘This is an appalling and sickening case and I want to commend the victims and witnesses for their bravery in coming forward so justice can be done.
‘Police officers are there to keep the rest of us safe, but instead of being a role model, Ali abused his position to prey on vulnerable young cadets who simply wanted to learn so they themselves could one day protect the public.’
Lewis Edwards – jailed in October 2023
South Wales Police officer Lewis Edwards groomed more than 200 young girls and told his victims that he would bomb their homes or shoot their parents if they refused to send him explicit images.
The paedophile constable, who groomed 210 girls aged between 10 and 16 on Snapchat between November 2020 and February 2023, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 12 years last October.
The South Wales Police officer, who joined the force in January 2021, was branded ‘cruel and sadistic’ for his crimes and was found to have kept more than 4,500 indecent images of children.
Edwards would pose as a 14-year-old boy and force his victims to make indecent videos and images of themselves, which he secretly recorded. He would then use these to blackmail the girls into sending increasingly graphic and explicit images.
South Wales Police officer and paedophile Lewis Edwards (pictured) groomed more than 200 young girls
The court heard that he threatened to bomb the house of one of his victims and shoot her parents if she stopped sending him images. Another was so traumatised by his behaviour that she slept with a hammer under her pillow.
All but one of the victims were abused while he was a serving police officer, and he targeted one teenager just 17 days after meeting her as part of his duties, Cardiff Crown Court heard.
Investigators also found that on 30 occasions, Edwards was in contact with his victims during working hours.
PC Simon Miller – jailed in November 2023
Humberside Police officer PC Simon Miller was sacked and jailed for having sex with a domestic abuse victim in a women’s refuge while on duty.
The 54-year-old pleaded guilty to the improper exercise of police powers and privileges.
Miller was sacked by Humberside Police and subsequently jailed last November for 28 months over his relationship with the victim.
Abuse survivor Shannon Mulhall, who chose to waive her right to anonymity, told Sky News: ‘He took advantage of my vulnerability.
Humberside Police officer PC Simon Miller (pictured) was sacked and jailed for having sex with a domestic abuse victim in a women’s refuge while on duty
‘He took advantage of the fact that I was alone with no support and nobody I could turn to and ask for help.
‘This was a police officer on duty meant to protect me and now he is naked in my refuge.’
Jonathon Cobban and Joel Borders – jailed in November 2022
The two Met Police officers were each jailed for 12 weeks in November 2022 after sending grossly offensive messages in a WhatsApp group with Couzens.
Both Cobban and Borders were members of a group chat called ‘Bottle and Stoppers’ with the killer.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard how they joked about raping a female colleague, talked about tasering children and people with disabilities, and displayed racist views in the group in 2019.
The messages were discovered after then serving Met officer Couzens kidnapped, raped and strangled to death Ms Everard.
Cobban was found guilty of three counts of sending grossly offensive messages on a public communications network, while Borders was convicted of five charges.
Both Cobban (left) and Borders were members of a group chat called ‘Bottle and Stoppers’ with Couzens