Two Met officers found guilty of sending ‘grossly offensive’ WhatsApp messages in group with Sarah Everard killer
Two police officers have been found guilty of sending racist and homophobic messages on a WhatsApp group that included Sarah Everard’s killer, Wayne Couzens.
PC Jonathon Cobban, 35, and former officer Joel Borders, 45, were both found guilty at City of London Magistrates’ Court of sending grossly offensive messages on a public communications network contrary to section 127 of the Communications Act 2003, and will be sentenced on November 2.
A third defendant, PC William Neville, 34, was found not guilty of all charges.
The court was told that the messages were shared on and off duty between April and August 2019 with other police colleagues who were part of a WhatsApp messaging group.
They included racist and homophobic comments, derogatory remarks aimed at domestic abuse victims and people with disabilities.
The WhatsApp group was discovered when Wayne Couzens was arrested for the murder of Sarah Everard and his phone was searched.
Examples of the messages sent included ex-PC Borders and PC Cobban exchanging messages about using firearms, and Tasers, against people and animals.
During this exchange ex-PC Borders suggested deployment of Taser on someone with Down’s syndrome.
Rosemary Ainslie, head of the CPS Special Crime Division, said: “It is incomprehensible that serving police officers could think it was right to share these kinds of grossly offensive messages with others.
“By these verdicts, the court has agreed that they were not just shocking or disturbing banter, but they amounted to criminal offences.
“Where there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to do so, the CPS will always prosecute these offences robustly.”
Picture top: Metropolitan Police officer Jonathon Cobban (Picture: Kirsty O’Connor/PA)