Horrific messages shared by Met Police officers in WhatsApp group with Wayne Couzens revealed

Graphic messages read out in court as three officers go on trial for ‘grossly offensive’ posts

Messages shared between Metropolitan Police officers in a WhatsApp group that included killer Wayne Couzens have been revealed in court.

Two constables and one former constable, who were all serving at the time, have been charged with sending “grossly offensive messages”.

The posts were discovered in a WhatsApp group called “Bottle and Stoppers/Atkin’s Puppets” after Couzens was arrested for kidnapping, raping and murdering Sarah Everard in March 2021.

Prosecutor Edward Brown QC told Westminster Magistrates’ Court the group included “grossly racist, sexist, misogynistic” messages, as well as those discussing rape, domestic abuse and violence against women.

Two officers on trial talked about “struggle snuggles” after one described pinning a 15-year-old girl to the floor during an incident, and one suggested he would “rape and beat” a named female police officer.

Other posts in the group appeared to joke about the prospect of leaving Muslims to die in a terrorist bombing and talked about racially diverse areas of London as “s***holes”.

Others discussed using Tasers to torture animals and shoot people with Down’s Syndrome.

The messages that resulted in charges were read out to the court on the first day of their trial on Thursday.

Jonathan Cobban, 35, William Neville, 34, and Joel Borders, 45, have denied all charges and their trial continues.

All three men were formerly officers in the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and transferred to the Metropolitan Police on the same date - 11 February 2019.

PC Cobban and Mr Borders are charged with five counts of sending grossly offensive messages, while PC Neville is accused of two counts of the same offence.

PC Cobban and PC Neville remain in the Metropolitan Police, while Mr Borders has since left the police.

21 June 2019:

Unnamed participant: Mate they aren't gonna ditch you with your skill sets, unless you [perform a sex act on] a DV [domestic violence] victim!

Unnamed participant: Oh, Jon in that case you're probably f***ed.

Jonathan Cobban: That's alright, DV victims love it... that's why they are repeat victims more often than not.

Joel Borders: No, they just don’t listen!

29 June 2019:

Jonathan Cobban: Got a bus through [the West London district of] Hounslow...what a f***ing Somali s***hole. Great. There goes p***y patrol...more like FGM [female genital mutilation] patrol.

Joel Borders: [West London district] Feltham is worse! I went there the other week and I felt like a spot on a domino! [Followed by a series of emojis showing one white face among several depicting Asian and black people of different races and religions]

Unnamed participant: Filthy Feltham.

Jonathan Cobban: Walking through to Hounslow Central [Tube station], it was like walking along a Dulux colour code.

Jonathan Cobban: Not even the shops were in English.

Joel Borders: Yeah, all shades of brown!?

Jonathan Cobban: Yep and I think I was one yellow. But he was lost cos he asked me for directions

Joel Borders: Hounslow twinned with Baghdad

Joel Borders: You know when it’s getting near to the end of night shift in Hounslow because you can hear the call to prayer

9 August 2019

Joel Borders: Lucky b******! I bet I get paired up with the only gay on section!

Jonathan Cobban: Oh yeah I dealt with one of those, hospital guard for some attention seeking self harming f*g

9 August 2019

Jonathan Cobban: That’s good mate. I’m hoping to get a fight or something to prove myself. This week mainly been doing arrest inquiries and s*** like that. Hospital guard.

William Neville: That’s s***. My first shift was third wheeling, then the rest I’ve been an operator, where my first call was an urgent assistant, pinned a 15 year old girl going mental to the floor...I knew all the struggle snuggles would come in useful at some point

Jonathan Cobban: Haha struggle snuggles are always useful...good skills!

9 August 2019

William Neville: Yeah, I’m going to try and have a chat to the PaDP [Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection] guys at the American Embassy next week, theyr’e pretty good st [sic] coming out to talk to us, get an idea of what it’s really like

Jonathan Cobban: They on your patch?

William Neville: Yes mate, it’s right on the limit of my patch.

Jonathan Cobban: Ah quality. Our landmark’s London’s biggest mosque! [Emoji of man in turban and book]

William Neville: Haha! That’s useful if you need to execute a warrant, you’ll know where they are

Jonathan Cobban: Dependent on eod [Explosive Ordnance Disposal] availability [winky smiling face emoji]

William Neville: 400m cordon, saves you having to do an investigation

Jonathan Cobban: West area...would still be our job [crying with laughter emoji]

5 April 2019

Joel Borders: I can’t wait to get on guns so I can shoot some c*** in the face!

Jonathan Cobban: Me too. I want to taser a cat and a dog to see which reacts better. I think the cat will get more pissed off and the dog will s**it. I wanna test this theory. Same with children. Zap zap you little f***ers.

Joel Borders: And a couple of downys? [prosecution alleges a reference to people with Down’s Syndrome]

25 April 2019

Jonathan Cobban: At least you’ll have [named female police officer]. She’ll look after you lol [laugh out loud]

Joel Borders: She will use me as an example. Lead me on then get me locked up when I rape and beat her! Sneaky b***h.