The latest Wayne Couzens revelations are shocking and sordid – and could be the final straw for the police

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The police missed clear chances to identify Wayne Couzens as a potential sex offender before he kidnapped and murdered Sarah Everard in March 2021, it was revealed yesterday. Yet it is news, because the man described by former Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick as a “bad apple” has just pleaded guilty to three offences of indecent exposure, meaning reporting restrictions surrounding his case have been lifted – and more details of his sordid conduct can be revealed. Detailing the case, Mrs Justice May said: “She was scared and shaken, and could do nothing but cycle past, up the hill, as fast as she was able.” A few months later, on two different occasions on 14 and 27 February 2021, Couzens exposed his genitals to staff at a drive-through fast food restaurant in Kent. The senior judge said: “The female staff were shaken, upset and angry.” This only adds to what we already knew of Couzens’ behaviour: that when he was sentenced in September 2021, he had exposed himself three times over the years since 2015 – yet had been allowed to remain in the force without as much as a slap on the wrist.