A serving London Metropolitan Police officer and a former constable have been found guilty of sending grossly offensive misogynistic and racist messages in a WhatsApp group with Sarah Everard's killer.
Met constables William Neville, 34, and Jonathon Cobban, 35, and former PC Joel Borders, 45, were members of the chat called "Bottle and Stoppers" along with Wayne Couzens.
Constable Neville was cleared of sending grossly offensive messages but his two colleagues were convicted today following a trial at Westminster Magistrates' Court in July.
Borders and Cobban swapped what they claimed was "banter" about tasering children and people with disabilities, and used racist comments in the group in 2019, when referring to Hounslow.
In an exchange on 5 April that year, Borders wrote that he "... can't wait to get on guns...."
Cobban responded: "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***. I wanna test this theory. Same with children."
Borders replied suggesting adding others to the list, using a term the prosecution said referred to people with Down Syndrome.
Delivering a verdict at City of London Magistrates' Court, Judge Sarah Turnock said it was "abhorrent" that Borders "demonstrates an ableist attitude by then adding a disabled person to Cobban's disgusting list of victims".
She added: "I can honestly say that I consider it to be sickening to think of a police officer joking about using firearms in this way."
On 25 April 2019, Borders joked about assaulting a female colleague, who he referred to as a "sneaky b****", language which the judge said was "misogynistic and aggressive in its nature and is a clear example of victim blaming".
The pair will be sentenced at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 2 November.
