Wayne Couzens, the police officer who raped and murdered Sarah Everard, has pleaded guilty to a string of indecent exposure offences.
The 50-year-old admitted a flashing incident in November 2020 and two in February 2021, just days before he abducted and killed Ms Everard from a street in south London.
Appearing over videolink from jail for a hearing at the Old Bailey on Monday, he also pleaded not guilty to an indecent exposure charge relating to an alleged incident in June 2015.
This plea was accepted by prosecutors, who also chose to leave several other allegations against Couzens on file, meaning they will not proceed to trial.
Couzens exposed himself on two separate occasions at a McDonald’s drive-thru restaurant in Kent on Feb 14 and 27, 2021, prompting staff to call the police.
Officers attended on Feb 28 and were handed CCTV footage showing the number plate of Couzens’s car, a Seat that would be used three days later in Ms Everard’s murder.
The car’s number plate was entered into the DVLA’s registration index, which produced the name of Couzens as the vehicle’s owner, as well as his home address in Deal, Kent.
But it appears officers then failed to complete the jigsaw and did not work out that the Wayne Couzens identified was a serving police officer in the Metropolitan Police.
Had they done so, it is likely it would have prompted them to act more quickly and immediately suspend Couzens, a diplomatic protection officer entitled to carry weapons. He may have also been arrested.
Had he been suspended, Couzens would have been required to hand in his warrant card, which he used three days later on March 3 to trick Ms Everard into being falsely arrested, handcuffed and then abducted in a hire car.
The other indecent exposure incident to which Couzens pleaded guilty took place in November 2020, when a female cyclist was confronted by him while she was passing through an area of woodland in Deal.
Couzens emerged from the woods completely naked in front of the woman while masturbating, an earlier court hearing was told.
Incident at McDonalds
Couzens had attempted to get the latest charges thrown out after claiming he would not be able to get a fair trial due to the widespread publicity of his horrific crimes against Ms Everard.
Mrs Justice May rejected his legal challenge in November last year in a ruling which shed further light on his alleged flashing offences.
It can now be reported that the judge said Couzens had been linked to the offences at McDonalds due through the vehicle registration number and receipts for payment using a credit card in his name.
Female staff working at the window taking money and handing out food had reported a man in a car exposing himself while handing over his car for payment and while taking food.
“They reported that the man looked straight at them whilst sitting in the car, exposing himself to them in this way,” the judge wrote.
“The female staff were shaken, upset and angry.”
Victim had been cycling when Couzens stepped out ‘masturbating’
Outlining the offence Couzens committed in the woodland in November 2020, the judge said the victim had been cycling 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 onto the bank above her, very close as it was a narrow lane,” the judge said.
He was “totally naked” and masturbating, “looking straight at her as he did so”.
The judge continued: “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 50m further on and recalled a partial numberplate as NF11.
“She spoke to some walkers to warn them before calling her husband to tell him what had happened.”
Number-plate recognition technology and cell-site data were later able to locate the defendant in his vehicle in the area at the time.
He is expected to be sentenced for the new offences on March 6.
Couzens is already serving a whole-life sentence for the rape and murder of Ms Everard, to which he pleaded guilty in July 2021.