Wayne Couzens 'formally complained after prison blocked him receiving birthday present'

Complaint reportedly came after prison bosses blocked parcel for killer’s 50th birthday
Killer: Wayne Couzens
PA Media
Josh Salisbury6 April 2024
WEST END FINAL

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Killer police officer Wayne Couzens reportedly formally complained about prison bosses after they stopped him receiving a 50th birthday gift from his mother.

The former armed Metropolitan Police officer will never be released from prison after he abducted, raped and murdered marketing executive Sarah Everard in March 2021.

Couzens has since complained that bosses at HMP Frankland blocked him from receiving a gift from his mother when he turned 50, reported the Mail Online.

The killer is said to have suggested relatives should receive compensation after the gift of a book and some clothes were stopped from reaching him at the top security prison, although all inmates are reportedly not allowed parcels from home.

A source told the publication: “His complaint was based on his parents, how it had inconvenienced them and potentially left them out of pocket. But it was absolutely dripping with self-pity.

“In even hinting that the present should have reached him he was effectively asking for special privileges which other prisoners wouldn't get. The whole episode was unbelievable.”

Couzens, who turned 50 behind bars on December 20, 2022, argued that he had earlier been allowed a parcel containing some headphones, but was reportedly told by wardens that this had been a one-off.

In a crime that shocked the nation, he used his status as a police officer to trick Miss Everard into thinking he could arrest her for breaking Covid lockdown rules in place at the time.

After the harrowing killing, it emerged there had been concerns about Couzens’ behaviour while he was a police officer, with reports he was nicknamed “the rapist”.

He joined Kent Police as a special constable in 2002, became an officer with the Civil Nuclear Constabulary in 2011 and then moved to the Met in 2018.

Couzens indecently exposed himself three times before the murder, including twice at a drive-through fast food restaurant in Kent in the days before the killing.

He was also later revealed to have been part of a WhatsApp group with fellow officers that shared disturbing racist, homophobic and misogynist remarks.

A scathing inquiry published in February discovered chances to stop the sexual predator were repeatedly ignored and missed by three different forces, including Scotland Yard.

In response to the inquiry, led by Lady Elish Angiolini, Miss Everard’s family spoke of their loss and said they believe she died because Couzens was a police officer, adding: “She would never have got into a stranger’s car.”

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