Three metropolitan police Cops joked about sexually abusing victims of domestic violence in a WhatsApp group chat with killer Wayne Couzens, a court has heard.
In the chat they joked that they went on ‘pussy patrol’ and described part of west London like a ‘f****** Somali bastard’.
PC Jonathan Cobban, 35, PC William Neville, 33, and ex-PC Joel Borders, 45, are all accused of sending “grossly offensive” material on WhatsApp with the disgraced officer in 2019.
Couzens, a former parliamentary and diplomatic protection officer, was sentenced to life in prison last year for the kidnapping, rape and murder of the 33-year-old Sarah Everard.
Detectives investigating the case discovered the allegedly offensive material in a WhatsApp group on one of Couzens’ phones.
Edward Brown, QC, Prosecutor, said: ‘The defendants were all serving police officers at the time and sometimes they were on duty when the messages were sent.’
Metropolitan Police officer on duty, PC William Neville, 33, arrives at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today. He and two other people are accused of sending abusive, indecent or obscene messages in a WhatsApp group chat
Serving Metropolitan Police officer Jonathon Cobban arrives at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today, where he is charged with sharing ‘grossly offensive’ WhatsApp messages
Ex-PC Joel Borders, pictured arriving today at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, has been charged with two charges of transmitting an offensive matter over a public communications network
The first exchange of messages, on June 29, 2019, was between Cobban and Borders.
Another unindicted person writes: ‘Mate, they won’t dump you with your skills unless you finger a DV [domestic violence] victim’ to which Borders replies, ‘Oh John, in that case you’re probably f*****’.
Cobban writes: ‘That’s good. DV victims love it. That’s why more often than not they’re victims,” and Borders replies, “No, they’re just not listening.”
The next exchange, on the same day, is also between Cobban and Borders.
Cobban describes his commute through Hounslow, West London, as ‘off****** Somali bastard’ and adds: ‘Great, there goes my pussy patrol – more like FGM [female genital mutilation] patrol.’
Borders replied, “Feltham is worse. I went there the other week and I felt like a place on a domino.
The message was followed by a series of emojis showing a white-faced man surrounded by “brown faces of different shades.”
Later that same year, in August, Neville and Cobban discuss restraining a mentally ill 15-year-old girl.
Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of (left to right) employed by Metropolitan police officers Pc William Neville, and Jonathon Cobban, along with former police officer Joel Borders appearing in the dock at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in March
Neville writes, “My first shift was in the third row, and the rest was a switchboard operator where the first emergency call was.
“Put a 15-year-old girl crazy on the floor. I knew all those cozy hugs would come in handy someday.”
Another exchange, between Cobban and Borders, reads: “[Cobban]: She will take care of you.
‘[Borders]: She will take me as an example; lead me through and then have me locked up if I rape and beat her, you sneaky bastard.’
Earlier that month, he is also said to have told Cobban, “I can’t wait to take up arms so I can shoot some bastard in the face.”
Cobban is said to have responded by saying he wanted to ‘task a cat and a dog to see which one responds better’, adding: ‘The same goes for children. Zap you zap little f******’.
The fifth and final indictment against Cobban refers to messages sent on August 7, 2019.
Neville explains that he has “three housekeepers in a row today” and Cobban replies, “I bet they all had one thing in common: women who don’t listen.”
Mr Brown said: ‘This must be seen in the context of and in conjunction with the need to maintain public confidence in the police – an urgent need in itself, or at least the context in which the comments should be considered .
“The right-thinking public would be deeply offended; not just by the comments themselves, but to know that they were serving police officers who, including serving police officers, their colleagues and the citizens they were supposed to serve in the terms used in these messages, often in an enthusiastic and encouraging way way with no disagreement.’
The court was told that all three officers had previously worked in the civilian nuclear police force and had been transferred to the Met on February 11, 2019.
Cobban, of Didcot, Oxfordshire, and Borders, of Preston, Lancashire, deny that five counts each of transmitting over a public communications network is an abusive matter.
Neville, of Weybridge, Surrey, denies two identical charges.
The posts were shared in a group chat that Wayne Couzens (pictured) had been a part of. Couzens would later rape and murder Sarah Everard, and is currently serving a life sentence with no prospect of parole
The messages in the group chat were found by detectives investigating the murder of Sarah Everard (pictured) after she was murdered by Met Police officer Wayne Couzens
In his police interrogations, Cobban said he regretted sending the messages and described them as “stupid.”
Referring to his comments that the Hounslow community is a ‘Dulux map’, he said: ‘This comment was related to the vibrancy of the area. It was a shock to see… I was new to the area.”
Borders described his comments as “dark humor that I understand will offend some people.”
He said: ‘I was professional at work and I don’t think rape is a joke and I don’t think violence against women is a joke.’
The Crown Prosecution Service had initially granted the three men anonymity on “operational reasons.”
But in response to complaints from open justice campaigners, the CPS has released the names into the public domain.
One of the accused, PC William Neville (pictured), 33, lives in Surrey in a modern block of flats with his wife
Mr Brown said: ‘The defendants, along with four other officers, were part of a WhatsApp group called ‘Bottle and Stoppers/Atkin’s puppets’.
‘It should be noted that from time to time the correspondents report on work-related topics such as training’ [and] for advise.
It follows that this was a close-knit group of police officers… and there is no evidence that any of the defendants (or the other members of the group) ‘bible’ or challenged any of their co-defendants after receiving what the prosecution says are the offensive messages.
“The prosecution’s case is that at the time, each of the defendants was an on-duty police officer, trained and employed to protect and support the citizens of a very diverse city.
PC Neville (pictured) would have described pinning a 15-year-old girl to the floor as a ‘battle hug’
“There were . . . no isolated incidents that the co-correspondent was somehow unable to object to.
“Each defendant actively participated and chose to remain in the group.”
Referring specifically to Borders’ message about raping and beating a female colleague he was about to train with, Brown said: “The message is threatening and aggressive in nature, we explain.
“It’s victim blaming, derogatory to victims of rape and sexual assault and to women in general, like the words ‘sneaky b****’.”
Then, referring to Cobban and Neville’s conversation about restraining a young girl, Brown said: ‘This, by Neville (but then supported in his feelings by Cobban) implied to any right-thinking observer that Neville was in need, while he was on duty, physically to restrain a very vulnerable and disturbed 15-year-old girl because he got pleasure from, or at least drew on his experience of…with, I quote, a “battle gadget”, and we argue that this is a rape fantasy or other non-consensual physical touching.”
PC Cobban (pictured), 35, shares a modern detached house in Oxfordshire with his wife. He claimed he described Hounslow as a ‘f****** Somali asshole’
In 2017, Cobban had volunteered as the Civil Nuclear Constabulary’s Race and Diversity Custodian, the court heard.
Mr Brown said the role required specialist knowledge and understanding.
Cobban was registered with an Equal Opportunities Consultative Support Network to provide social, moral and professional support to workers with protected characteristics.
All three men were handed over to the Metropolitan Police Service in February 2019.
The process continues.