Police viewed sensitive files on Sarah Everard out of ‘curiosity’, panel hears

Police viewed confidential information about the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard such as her X-rays out of “curiosity”, a disciplinary hearing heard.

Seven Metropolitan police officers were accused of looking at sensitive information relating to the case after the arrest of firearms officers Wayne Couzens, The Times reported.

An audit by the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards, code-named Operation Scarborough, found that four serving and three former officers accessed the information.

Everard, 33, went missing in March 2021, with Couzens arrested for her kidnap, rape and murder. An investigation found the group viewed electronic records, including investigation logs, witness information and evidence.

A “flurry of access” to the files happened after Couzens’ arrest on suspicion of kidnap on 9 March 2021, including X-rays taken of Everard.

The serving Met officer was arrested again the next day on suspicion of murdering Everard, who went missing near Clapham Common in south London.

Couzens was not named publicly at the time but Scotland Yard briefed that a serving officer from the parliamentary and diplomatic protection unit had been arrested.

Paul Ozin KC represented the Met at the disciplinary hearing in central London on Monday and said the timing of the rush to access the internal police files was “not a coincidence”.

The force is seeking to have the officers in question dismissed, describing their behaviour as “inconsistent with the values and standards of the police service of the 21st century”.

It said some of the officers involved tried to “cover their tracks” by giving false reasons for accessing the information.

Some of the officers also viewed custody information relating to Couzens’ wife Elena, who had been detained by police on suspicion of assisting an offender before being released without charge, the panel heard.

Ozin added: “It was entirely to do with their own personal curiosity about a high-profile case in the public eye.

“And when further facts became known about a case that involved a fellow serving Met Police officer, accused of the most terrible crimes, they each chose to abuse their privileged position.

“That is to say, the position which enabled them to access confidential and sensitive police data, entirely for the purpose of satisfying their own personal curiosity.”

All seven of the officers involved admit accessing the documents to some extent but deny that is amounted to gross misconduct.

The access could also have been a breach of data protection rules, exposing the force to the “possibility of liability and serious reputational damage”, Ozin said.

Akinwale Ajose-Adeogun, a former custody support inspector, is accused of accessing Couzens’ records on 10 and 12 March of the same year. He resigned earlier this year.

Former trainee detective constable Hannah Rebbeck said she viewed the information because “she felt curious, anxious and invested in the outcome of the investigation”, the hearing was told.

She viewed Everard’s X-rays between 10 and 15 March 2021 and downloaded statements relating to the investigation.

Meanwhile, Robert Butters, a detective constable, resigned after 30 years with the force the night before the hearing began, it was told.

Mark Harper, a custody sergeant, is accused of viewing the information between 10 and 13 March 10. Other serving officers involved in the proceedings are PC Myles McHugh, PC Clare Tett and DC Tyrone Ward.