Academics and criminologists say we need to stop seeing non-contact offending as a ‘nuisance offence’
Wayne Couzens is the “worst case example” of why indecent exposure offences need to be taken more seriously, experts have said.
The former Metropolitan police firearms officer is serving a whole-life term for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021. At the Old Bailey on Monday, the 50-year-old admitted a string of flashing offences, including exposing himself at a drive-through fast food restaurant just four days before Everard’s abduction.
Jennifer Grant, a criminologist at the University of Portsmouth, said Couzens’s subsequent offending shows why indecent exposure needs to be viewed as a serious and sexual crime.
“He’s that validation of why we should take it seriously because we need to stop worst-case examples like Couzens,” she said. “I think every report of indecent exposure should be taken seriously and the number of reports not being taken seriously in this case is an absolute shame, because you’ve got a clear opportunity to try to intervene with Couzens.”
She added: “It’s certainly one of the things that the research points to. Which makes somewhat common sense, is that if someone is continuing to repeatedly indecently expose themselves, especially perhaps gaining in confidence – which it seems certainly like Couzens was, going round and round that drive-through, doing it repeatedly, actually – then that’s screaming to you that this person is potentially increasing in risk and might escalate. He is an awful case example of what escalation can look like at its very worse.”
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