Samantha Lee attended a grievance about Wayne Couzens hours earlier than Sarah Everard’s homicide (Photos: PA)
A former police officer who missed an opportunity to arrest Wayne Couzens earlier than he murdered Sarah Everard says she now will get ‘a whole lot of hate messages’.
Samantha Lee, 29,was discovered to have didn’t make ‘the proper investigative inquiries’ when referred to as about Couzens, 50, exposing himself to 2 girls hours earlier than he kidnapped, raped and killed Sarah.
She claims she is now being bombarded with hate messages from individuals who ‘blame her fully’ for the ‘letting’ the horrific homicide occur.
Among the texts she has acquired inform her she ought to have been the one attacked the best way Sarah was, Ms Lee added.
She instructed BBC Newsnight: ‘I believe I’m seen as this horrendous, terrible individual that has let a fully heinous crime happen.
‘And I’m being checked out as if I’m simply as responsible as what Couzens is.
‘However actually, there was nothing that I might have accomplished that will have modified the result.
‘I don’t need any sympathy in any respect. All I need is individuals simply to grasp that there’s nothing that I might have accomplished. It’s been a case of let’s go in on the backside somewhat than going up increased on the high.
Ms Lee exterior Palestra Home in Southwark, south London, the place she confronted a disciplinary panel (Image: PA)
‘The one individual that must be blamed for that terrible, terrible, horrendous crime must be Wayne Couzens.’
Ms Lee responded to complaints about Couzens at a McDonalds department in Swanley, Kent, on March 3, 2021 – the identical day Couzens murdered 33-year-old Sarah.
Couzens had pulled his trousers down and uncovered his penis in entrance of two feminine workers members on the drive-thru on February 14 and 17 2021.
Ms Lee stated she believed the restaurant’s CCTV was deleted mechanically, so there could be no footage of Couzens or the offence.
However supervisor Sam Taylor stated that he had proven Ms Lee CCTV footage and instructed her it may very well be downloaded on to a USB stick. He additionally stated Couzens’ registration plate may very well be seen in clips of the second incident.
The Met beforehand claimed Ms Lee discovered proof of Couzens’ automobile and financial institution card getting used on the time of the flashing assaults, and that she famous that he must be arrested.
Wayne Couzens, 50, is at the moment serving life in jail for attacked Sarah Everard (Image: SWNS)
Sarah Everard was kidnapped whereas she was strolling house by means of Clapham, south London, on March 3 2021 (Image: PA)
However she then ‘didn’t trouble’ to gather CCTV or perform a pc test which might have strongly backed suspicions that it was certainly him behind the wheel.
Legal professionals for the pressure stated Ms Lee’s ‘lamentably poor’ investigation was ‘rushed’ as a result of it was her final job of the day and he or she was eager to ‘get away rapidly’.
She later resigned after being suspended for allegedly promoting racy photos on-line as ‘Officer Naughty’, however ended up being discovered responsible of gross misconduct and banned from serving in any police pressure ever once more.
After the ultimate listening to at first of this week, Ms Lee stated she had been made a ‘scapegoat’ and feels she has been ‘thrown underneath the bus’.
She added: ‘I’m a younger feminine PC and I’m the one one that has confronted any disciplinary motion in relation to this.
‘There is just one one that is liable for every thing that occurred and that’s Wayne Couzens. I’ve by no means lied.’
In March, Couzens was handed a 19-month sentence after admitting three counts of indecent publicity, together with flashing on the McDonalds restaurant on February 14 and 27 2021.
He was already serving an entire life time period for kidnapping Ms Everard as she walked house by means of Clapham, south London, on March 3 2021 after which raping and murdering her.
The third indecent publicity incident associated to when Couzens uncovered himself to a feminine bicycle owner on a Kent nation lane in November 2020.
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