Former Metropolitan Police officer Samantha Lee’s dishonesty about her investigation into Wayne Couzens over two incidents of flashing amounted to gross misconduct, a police disciplinary hearing has found.
The former constable was found by the hearing at Palestra House to have failed to make “the correct investigative inquiries” over two incidents when Couzens exposed himself to female members of staff at a McDonald’s restaurant in Swanley, Kent, on February 14 and 27 2021.
On both occasions, Couzens was seen by female members of staff to have his pants open and his penis on display.
Ms Lee attended the restaurant on March 3 and interviewed manager Sam Taylor, hours before Sarah Everard was kidnapped by Couzens in Clapham, south-west London.
The former officer was also found to have lied about her actions when later questioned about the interview, claiming that she believed that CCTV at the restaurant was deleted automatically so there would be no footage of Couzens or the offence.
Panel chairman Darren Snow found that this dishonesty amounted to gross misconduct, and that had Ms Lee still been a serving officer, she would have been dismissed from the force.
