Wayne Couzens ‘will receive his full Met Police salary during criminal proceedings’

Sarah Everard murder suspect Wayne Couzens ‘will receive his full Met Police salary of at least £33,000 during criminal proceedings’

  • Wayne Couzens, 48, is reportedly paid at least £33,000 per year for his role  
  • The Met has served Couzens with gross misconduct notice and suspending him
  • Standard protocol is for officers to be paid right until they leave the force 

The Met Police officer suspected of the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard will receive his full salary while facing criminal charges, it has been claimed.

Wayne Couzens, 48, is reportedly paid at least £33,000 per year for his role in Scotland Yard’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Unit.

He will continue to be remunerated during the criminal proceedings brought against him following the death of 33-year-old marketing executive Ms Everard.

This is despite the Met serving Couzens with a gross misconduct notice and suspending him from duty in the wake of his charging on March 12.   

Wayne Couzens, 48, is reportedly paid at least £33,000 per year for his role in Scotland Yard's Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Unit

Wayne Couzens, 48, (right) is reportedly paid at least £33,000 per year for his role in Scotland Yard’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Unit.  He will continue to be remunerated during the criminal proceedings brought against him following the death of 33-year-old marketing executive Sarah Everard (left)

It is understood standard protocol is for officers under suspicion to be paid, keeping with the presumption of innocence. 

Speaking in general terms, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said: ‘The policy would be the officer is on full pay until the point they are dismissed,’ according to The Sun

Also speaking generally, a Police Federation spokesperson added: ‘The situation for police is in some ways not different to any other employee who has been arrested and charged for offences. 

‘They would continue to be paid until the disciplinary process is invoked, the speed of which would be down to the employer. 

‘While instant dismissal without pay doesn’t exist within policing, a Fast Track Disciplinary process does exist along with the ability for pension forfeiture, which doesn’t exist outside of policing.’

Couzens’s plea hearing has been scheduled for July 9, while a provisional trial date has been pencilled in for October 25. 

If the case goes to trial, it could mean a verdict is not reached by as late as the end of November.

Couzens appeared to have a left black eye as he appeared by videolink to the Old Bailey

Couzens appeared to have a left black eye as he appeared by videolink to the Old Bailey

Yesterday Couzens made his first appearance in London’s Old Bailey, bearing a large injury on his head and black left eye.

The court heard that the armed officer had finished work at least nine hours before Miss Everard went missing on the evening of March 3 as she walked home from a friend’s flat in Clapham, south London. 

Prosecutor Tom Little, QC, told the court: ‘There’s been a very significant and wide-ranging investigation.

‘The position is that Sarah Everard was walking home a distance of some two and a half miles – if she had made it home – at 9 o’clock on the evening of March 3.

‘The defendant had finished his last shift earlier that day, in fact that morning.’

The prosecutor said the case has received ‘almost unprecedented media and public attention.’

Couzens appeared via video link for the hearing yesterday, wearing a red sweatshirt and grey jogging bottoms.

He spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth at the hearing, before the Recorder of London Judge Mark Lucraft QC.         

Judge Luckraft said a plea hearing would be held on July 9 at the Old Bailey and a provisional date for a trial – which could last up to four weeks – was set for October 25. Couzens kept his head bowed for the proceedings. 

When MailOnline this evening asked the NPCC for more information on Couzens’s salary, they referred us to the Met. The Met then referred us to the Home Office, which said it was in the remit of either the NPCC or the Met.