Met Officer dismissed for accessing Wayne Couzens' files

A Metropolitan Police officer who trawled through police systems to discover the identity of Sarah Everard's killer following his arrest has been dismissed.

Former PC Clare Tett had no "proper policing purpose" to access Wayne Couzens' record the day after he was detained, a tribunal ruled.

Tett had initially maintained that she had a "lawful policing reason" by using Everard's case to refresh her licence on one of the systems.

The hearing concluded Tett had no involvement in the investigation into Everard's disappearance and was instead "motivated by curiosity". She was found to have committed gross misconduct and was dismissed without notice.

Everard, 33, was abducted, raped and murdered by serving Met police officer Couzens in south London on 3 March 2021.

She was reported missing on 4 March, 2021. Five days later, Couzens was arrested on suspicion of kidnap and detained.

His name was not in the public domain until 12 March, the judgement stated.

The tribunal heard that two days earlier, Tett used police systems to access the custody records of Couzens and his wife, and the crime report information system (CRIS) for Everard's case.

She had also accessed custody records for four other detainees held in London police stations on suspicion of serious offences, including murder and blackmail.

The appropriate authority (AA) said Tett had more than 20 years of experience, had completed training and would have known that "police data should only be accessed for official purposes only".

In her initial response to the allegations, Tett admitted accessing the records but maintained she had a "a lawful policing purpose for doing so".

The panel found the "most likely explanation for accessing the records, given that PC Tett had no obvious personal connection to this case, was that she was motivated by curiosity to find the identity of the officer who had been arrested in connection to the Sarah Everard case".

"The panel, therefore, found that PC Tett's conduct had clearly breached the standards of confidentiality and orders and instructions."

Tett is one of several officers identified who had accessed material related to the investigation without an apparent policing purpose.

The high court previously ruled seven officers had accessed the files without a professional reason to do so.

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