Wayne Couzens: PC in WhatsApp group with Sarah Everard killer says he was exemplary

Former Met Police officer Joel Borders is accused of sending offensive WhatsApp messages

A former Met Police officer accused of joking about rape in a group WhatsApp with Sarah Everard's killer has described himself as "exemplary" on the job.

Joel Borders is accused, along with two serving officers, of sharing "grossly racist, sexist, misogynistic" messages with Wayne Couzens in 2019.

Couzens is serving a full-life term for kidnap, rape, and murder.

Mr Borders said prosecutors were trying to "criminalise innocent officers".

The former PC, from Preston, Lancashire, is accused of sending a WhatsApp message in which he joked about raping a female colleague.

He was previously in the Civil Nuclear Constabulary before being transferring to the Met in 2019, along with serving Met constables Jonathon Cobban, 35, from Didcot, Oxfordshire, and William Neville, 34, from Weybridge, Surrey.

Messages the three men shared in a WhatsApp chat had been described in court by Prosecutor Edward Brown QC as being "grossly racist, sexist, misogynistic".

Westminster Magistrates Court had previously heard "grossly offensive" messages about women and disabled people had been posted.

PC William Neville (left) and PC Jonathon Cobban were suspended from duty

Mr Borders told the court: "I was an exemplary officer.

"I always turned up to work early, I always dressed smart, made sure my boots were clean.

"My image was perfect and I behaved perfectly with people."

He said he was "naive" when he first joined the Met in 2019, and had a "different sense of humour then".

"I still have a dark sense of humour," he added.

"I still laugh at things that maybe I shouldn't laugh at."

During a later, heated exchange with prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward, Mr Borders said: "You are trying to criminalise innocent police officers."

While giving evidence, Mr Cobban said that, like many emergency services workers, he had "developed a dark sense of humour" as a "coping mechanism" and described the messages as "banter between mates".

'Hard-working officers'

On Thursday, Neville had been accused of "acting out a rape fantasy" by prosecutor Edward Brown QC, after he described the time he "pinned a 15-year-old girl going mental on the floor" as deploying a "struggle snuggle".

On Friday, two serving Met Sergeants, Sarah Stephens and Owen Graham told the court they were familiar with the term "struggle snuggle" as slang for a restraint technique from training sessions.

Ms Stephens, a sergeant of 20 years, said there were "absolutely" no sexual connotations with the term, and when asked whether it involved "anything funny or any kind of innuendo" she said "no".

She also described Mr Neville as "one of the most professional, hard-working police officers that I have ever worked with".

The three officers face charges relating to improper use of a public electronic communications network between 5 April and 9 August 9 2019.

It is known that messages from the chat were found on Wayne Couzens' phone during investigations into the murder of Ms Everard last year, though the court has not made direct reference to this due to other ongoing hearings.

Mr Borders left the force on December 2020, for unrelated reasons and before he was told about Couzens or that he was being investigated for misconduct in August 2021.

The three men do not deny sending the messages, but they do deny the charges that they are grossly offensive.

Mr Cobban and Mr Neville are currently suspended from the Met Police.

The trial continues on 21 September at City of London Magistrates' Court.

Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].