Even after he was arrested over the disappearance of Sarah Everard, Wayne Couzens’ high standing among people who knew him saw his mother-in-law insist he was ‘a wonderful family man’.
But the smiling face of the father-of-two who doted on his children masked a depraved sexual deviant addicted to pornography and twisted fantasies.
His utter disregard for his victim saw him try and burn her dead body before leaving it in a bag near land he had used as a family grave site to scatter ashes.
But by day Couzens was guarding some of the most important VIPs and maintaining an inscrutable veneer as Met Police Diplomatic Protection Officer.
And before that he guarded the Dungeness Nuclear Power station in another job of great trust and responsibility.
However, at the same time, in June 2015, there was the first of a series of escalating incidents and clues that would horrifically culminate in the murder of Sarah.
Kent Police – with whom he volunteered from 2005 to 2009 – received a complaint a man had been spotted driving around Dover naked from the waist down.
No arrests were made and the fact it was suspected to be Couzens was kept secret until today when the Independent Office for Police Conduct revealed the crime.
The IOPC revealed the allegation as it confirmed Couzens was suspected of two other indecent exposures feared not to have been properly probed by the Met force days before he killed Sarah.
Despite the past cases, Couzens was still a member of the elite Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection squad at the time of Sarah’s killing – a role that entitled him to carry a firearm and a Metropolitan Police warrant card.
Family man: Couzens with wife Elena, 38, and their two children on a family holiday abroad in much happier times
Responsible jobs: Couzens worked as Kent Police, volunteer guarding nuclear facilities and as a diplomatic protection officer
Depraved killer: The chilling police mugshot after he was detained for the murder and rape of his victim Sarah Everard
Formed in 2015, the unit is responsible for the protection of government owned buildings and embassies as well as ministers and visiting heads of state.
As part of his armed duties protecting MPs and dignitaries, Couzens has provided static security for major public events attended by senior members of the Royal Family.
All police recruits undergo careful vetting to check whether they have a criminal record when they join the force.
To be accepted into the elite Westminster armed unit, officers must face rigorous tests and firearms training.
Scotland Yard has referred itself to the police watchdog over the arrest of its own officer and separately over the force’s actions after Sarah was reported missing.
It was the latest revelation on Couzens, who admitted regularly meeting with prostitutes and was also suspected of taking dangerous body-building steroids.
The wife of Couzens told of her horror at the police officer’s sickening crimes and her distress at failing to spot any warning signs in the months before Sarah‘s kidnap and murder.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Elena Couzens, 38, said: ‘I keep on asking ‘why?’ What Wayne did wasn’t human behaviour.’
As Couzens today pleaded guilty to snatching Ms Everard, 33, off the street and Popo Florist then raping her, his wife of 15 years says she is still picking up the pieces of her shattered life and rebuilding it together with the couple’s two young children.
‘If I had any idea what was going on in Wayne’s head, then none of this would’ve happened but I didn’t know anything,’ she said.
‘He didn’t appear to be acting strangely.
I didn’t notice anything was wrong. I’m working full time, most of the time I’m dropping the children off at school and picking them up, I have a really busy lifestyle.
‘I can’t comprehend it because he never once previously showed any glimpse of violence, he was never that way.
I’m just as puzzled as everyone else.
Depraved killer: