Two police officers have been jailed for 12 weeks for sharing racist and misogynistic messages in a WhatsApp group that also included Sarah Everard's killer, Wayne Couzens. Met Police officer Jonathon Cobban, 35, and former PC Joel Borders were found guilty of posting grossly offensive messages, including jokes about tasering children and people with disabilities, as well as racist remarks about the London borough of Hounslow.
The messages were uncovered after Couzens was arrested for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021. The group, named "Bottle and Stoppers" after Cockney rhyming slang for coppers, contained exchanges where Borders used the term "downys" in reference to people with Down's syndrome and joked about shooting people. Cobban expressed a desire to taser a cat and a dog to see their reactions, adding "Same with children. Zap zap you little f****."
District Judge Sarah Turnock, sentencing at Westminster Magistrates' Court, described the messages as "grossly offensive" and said they "encapsulated the full range of prejudiced views, racism, misogyny, ableism and homophobia." She noted that the jokes were targeted at groups the officers had sworn to protect, causing "significant harm" to public confidence in policing.
Both officers were granted bail pending an appeal against their convictions at the High Court. Rosemary Ainslie, head of the CPS Special Crime Division, said it was "incomprehensible" that serving officers thought it acceptable to share such messages, and that the verdicts confirmed the content was not mere banter but criminal offences.
