A Metropolitan Police constable and Kent Police sergeant will face misconduct proceedings over their handling of the indecent exposure offences linked to Wayne Couzens before he killed Sarah Everard.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has conducted an investigation into why neither of the two forces identified the predatory Met Police officer as a suspect when they received complaints of flashing incidents in 2015 and 2021. 

Couzens, 50, admitted on Monday to exposing himself on two occasions at a drive-thru McDonalds in Kent in February 2021, days before he abducted, rape and killed Ms Everard, and flashing a female cyclist in a Kent woodland in November 2020. 

The IOPC said that, following their investigation, a Met Police constable would face gross misconduct proceedings over allegations they “breached police standards of professional behaviour for duties and responsibilities for alleged failings over the way inquiries were progressed”.

“The constable is also accused of breaching the standards relating to honesty and integrity over parts of an account provided to IOPC investigators in respect of the alleged failings,” a statement from the IOPC said. 

The misconduct proceedings involving the Met officer relate to the McDonalds incidents.

A sergeant from Kent Police will face misconduct proceedings over a criminal complaint made in June 2015 when a driver saw a man driving his vehicle while naked from the waist down near Dover in Kent. The vehicle was identified as belonging to Couzens, but he pleaded not guilty to the charge and it was ordered to lie on file by the court on Monday. 

The IOPC said: “We began our enquiries following a conduct referral from Kent Police in May 2021 and concluded that a sergeant has a case to answer for misconduct for alleged failures in following all reasonable lines of enquiry before the case was closed. 

“We found no evidence to suggest that Wayne Couzens was identified as a police officer and he was not spoken to.”