Ministers have been unable to strip Wayne Couzens, the former police officer who raped and murdered Sarah Everard, of part of his public sector pension and are considering introducing legislation if required, Sky News can reveal.
In March 2021, when he was a serving Metropolitan Police officer, Couzens used his police warrant to lure Sarah Everard into a fake arrest while she was walking home from a friend’s house in south London, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He later raped and murdered her.
In 2023, London’s mayor Sadiq Khan successfully applied to the home secretary to have any money that Couzens could have earned in pension payments while serving at the Metropolitan Police, revoked.
Mr Khan, who is also the city’s police and crime commissioner, at the time also believed Couzens had “approximately seven years’ pension service” with the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), between 2011 and 2018, according to a letter shared with Sky News.
This is a special force which guards nuclear facilities and is overseen by the UK Atomic Energy Authority, but is the ultimate responsibility of the energy secretary.
It is not like other forces, which fall under the home secretary.
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In a letter from 2023 to the then energy secretary, Grant Shapps, and shared with Sky News, Mr Khan said the CNC portion of Couzens’ pension “sits outside the normal police pension regulations”.
Freedom of information data obtained by Sky News shows there were no pension forfeitures from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary between 2020 and September 2025. It is understood that remains the case.
A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson told Sky News they are “absolutely determined that Wayne Couzens does not receive a Civil Nuclear Constabulary pension”.
Sky News understands there is an ongoing and complex legal process, and that the government is considering legislation, if required, in order to resolve it.
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The CNC told Sky News that when Couzens was convicted, they made a recommendation to the employing force that he should lose his pension benefits, but that they have no decision-making powers.
“After committing such heinous crimes, Wayne Couzens should not receive a penny in taxpayer-funded pension. Londoners would be furious if he did,” Sadiq Khan told Sky News.
“Every possible step should be taken to ensure that Wayne Couzens does not receive his Civil Nuclear Constabulary pension”, he added.
It is possible for a pension forfeiture to give an individual back the money that they have contributed, while the state retains any money paid in by the police service, funded by the taxpayer.
“When in prison Wayne Couzens’ pension would be suspended, but on his death his family could be entitled to up to 50% of his pension”, Bethan Shellard-Dedman, a lecturer in policing practice, told Sky News.
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The requirements for an officer to have their pension forfeited are that they commit an offence against the Official Secrets Act or that they’re convicted of an offence that is either; “gravely injurious to the interests of the state”, in connection with their “service as a member of a police force” or “liable to lead to a serious loss of confidence in the public service”.
“If the forfeiture is successful, the individual officer has their contribution returned. The police force would then retain what they contributed. The amounts of which can vary,” said Ms Shellard-Dedman.
“If you think of that pot as a whole as 100%, what the force contributes is normally around 65%. They can either get the full 65% back, or they can get 30% back, in which case the officer would then retain some police pension. But it depends on the individual award,” she said.
Couzens has been convicted of crimes committed in 2021 against Sarah Everard, and indecent exposure offences committed in February 2021 and 2020.
These offences were during the period he served at the Metropolitan Police.
