ormer Metropolitan Police officer Samantha Lee’s dishonesty about her investigation into Wayne Couzens over two incidents of flashing amounted to gross misconduct, a police disciplinary listening to has discovered.
The former constable was discovered by the listening to at Palestra House to have didn't make “the correct investigative inquiries” over two incidents when Couzens uncovered himself to feminine members of employees at a McDonald’s restaurant in Swanley, Kent, on February 14 and 27 2021.
On each events, Couzens was seen by feminine members of employees to have his pants open and his penis on show.
Ms Lee attended the restaurant on March 3 and interviewed supervisor Sam Taylor, hours earlier than Sarah Everard was kidnapped by Couzens in Clapham, south-west London.
The former officer was additionally discovered to have lied about her actions when later questioned concerning the interview, claiming that she believed that CCTV on the restaurant was deleted routinely so there can be no footage of Couzens or the offence.
Panel chairman Darren Snow discovered that this dishonesty amounted to gross misconduct, and that had Ms Lee nonetheless been a serving officer, she would have been dismissed from the power.
In his proof, Mr Taylor stated that he had proven Ms Lee CCTV footage and informed her it might be downloaded on to a USB stick.
He additionally stated that he defined to her that Couzens’ registration plate might be seen within the CCTV footage of the second incident.
For her half, Ms Lee denied that this was the case, saying that he had informed her that there was no CCTV.
Mr Snow, studying the panel’s findings, discovered that Mr Taylor was a “credible” witness.
“We find Sam Taylor to be a credible witness and that his evidence was clear.”
He added: “We find it inconceivable that he would not have shown her the CCTV evidence.”
Instead, the panel discovered that Ms Lee had been pushed to dishonesty by the “pressure” of the investigation.
“We have some understanding of this situation, a relatively straightforward exposure became an issue of immense pressure,” he stated.
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