The police missed three easy chances to stop a rogue officer before he kidnapped, raped, and murdered Sarah Everard.
Wayne Couzens, 50, had earlier exposed himself three times to women.
Witnesses gave the police the car registration numbers of vehicles he used.
But no action was taken and Couzens continued to serve in the Metropolitan Police armed diplomatic unit.
Six days before Ms Everard was killed Couzens exposed himself at a fast-food drive-through restaurant.
The incident was reported with his car’s full registration number and the credit card used to pay for the McDonald’s meal.
It’s reported the police did not go to the restaurant until March 3rd, 2021 – the day Ms Everard was captured.
After his life term conviction for her murder Couzens was charged with a number of indecent exposure offences.
Details of the offences could not be reported at the time for legal reasons.
Those restrictions were lifted when Couzens pleaded guilty to three offences with other charges left on file.
The earliest opportunity to name Couzens came in Dover in June 2015 when he allegedly exposed himself.
Kent police were passed full details but took no action.
In a ruling from a pre-trial hearing, Mrs Justice May wrote:
“The first offence dates from June 2015 when [name of witness] driving with his wife and two-year-old along London Road in Dover called in to Kent police to report a man in a car which they had just passed driving along with his erect penis exposed.
“[Name of witness] took the registration number of the car which he gave to police at the time.
“There appears to have been no further investigation.”
Couzens pleaded not guilty to that charge.
In November 2020, in Deal, Kent – four months before Couzens kidnapped Ms Everard – he exposed himself to a female cyclist.
Mrs Justice May wrote:
“A woman was bicycling home along a narrow country lane up a hill past a wooded area.
“On her account, as she cycled past the wooded bit a man stepped out on to the bank above her, very close as it was a narrow lane, totally naked, masturbating his erect penis, looking straight at her as he did so.
“She was scared and shaken and could do nothing but cycle past, up the hill, as fast as she was able.
“She noticed a black car parked 50 metres further on and recalled a partial numberplate.”
Later inquiries found, via automatic number plate recognition and cell site analysis on his mobile phone, that Couzens’ phone and car were in the area at the time.
He pleaded guilty to that charge on Monday.
The Met said after the case:
“On 28 February 2021, the Met received an allegation of exposure at a location in Swanley, Kent.
“This was recorded and passed to a local officer to investigate.
“By the time of Sarah Everard’s kidnap, on 3 March 2021, the investigation was not concluded and Couzens’ occupation had not been identified.”
Couzens will be sentenced on March 6th.
