Police officers who worked with Sarah Everard's killer charged over offensive WhatsApp messages

Three Metropolitan Police officers have been charged with sending “grossly offensive” WhatsApp messages.

All three will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on March 16 for their first hearing.

Three police officers who worked with Sarah Everard's killer Wayne Couzens have been charged over allegations they shared racist and misogynistic messages with him.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said two serving Metropolitan Police officers and one former officer were charged with sending "grossly offensive" messages on a WhatsApp group chat.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct sent prosecutors a file on allegations the three shared racist and misogynistic messages with Couzens between April and August 2019.

The three will appear at court on March 16 for their first hearing.

Their names cannot be published for operational reasons, the CPS said.

“Each of the three defendants has been charged with sending grossly offensive messages on a public communications network. The alleged offences took place on a WhatsApp group chat," head of the CPS Special Crime Division Rosemary Ainslie said.

“The function of the CPS is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges to a court to consider," she said.

“Criminal proceedings are active and nothing should be published that could jeopardise the defendants right to a fair trial.”