Ex-Met Police officer who served in same unit as Wayne Couzens found guilty of rape

A former Metropolitan Police officer has been found guilty of rape following a trial at Southwark Crown Court.

Mark Tyrrell, 57, who served in the same police unit as Sarah Everard’s killer Wayne Couzens, has been convicted of one count of rape, three of sexual assault and one of perverting the course of justice.

The court heard that Tyrrell raped the woman – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – by having sex with her after she repeatedly said no.

Tyrrell was then said to have told the woman “I don’t believe what’s just happened”, and “do you realise that what I’ve just done, that was rape?”

Jurors found him not guilty of one count of rape, four counts of assault by penetration, and eight counts of sexual assault, charges which he denied.

Tyrrell had been attached to the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, which is where convicted rapists Couzens and David Carrick both worked.

His trial was told that Tyrrell had “emotionally bullied and manipulated” his victim to try to “satisfy his sexual needs”.

Prosecutor Catherine Farrelly KC alleged that when the woman resisted his sexual advances “he simply chose to take what he wanted”.

It was heard that concerns were raised after officers attended her address for a separate matter and found Tyrrell hiding by the side of her bed. The defendant was found guilty of perverting the course of justice after attempting to delete messages with the woman.

In one message, the court heard he said he was “sorry” for “being a sex offender”, “a c***”, and “for ruining your life by being in it”.

The woman told him not to say such things to which he replied that they were “true”.

The court heard that on occasions, the victim woke up to find the defendant touching her vagina.

During a police interview, the victim said “she had felt pressured by him and had feared that no-one would believe her about the allegations, as she feared she couldn’t prove it and was worried that the police would protect him as he was a police officer”, the prosecution told jurors.

In his evidence, Tyrrell claimed that sexual intercourse between them was always consensual and “there was never any forcefulness to it”.

He told the court that being arrested for alleged sex offences “was one of the worst things that’s ever happened to me”.

The defendant previously admitted misconduct in a public office. He had also pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice by persuading the woman to lie to the police about why he was in her bedroom.

Tyrrell resigned from the force in September 2023 after he was arrested and suspended, according to the Met.

The defendant, of Meltham, West Yorkshire, is set to be sentenced at the same court on 16 December.

Chief Superintendent Sara Leach, commander within specialist operations, said: “This kind of conduct is abhorrent but even more so when it is carried out by a serving officer, who had gained the trust of the victim.

“We remain appalled that someone like this was serving within our organisation and it is right he has been brought to justice.”

Dominique Burrell, of the Crown Prosecution Service, added: “Mark Tyrrell’s behaviour was indicative of a predator who was willing to do whatever it took to get what he, and he alone, wanted.

“As a police officer, his actions fell woefully short of the standards rightly expected of those who serve in the police.

“He took advantage of his position and the trust placed in him to pursue a vulnerable woman he met in the course of his duties.

“His campaign of emotional abuse and manipulation culminated in some of the most horrific sexual offences against her, even preying on her while she slept and was at her most vulnerable.”

IOPC director of engagement Amanda Rowe said: “Mark Tyrrell abused his position as a police officer to pursue contact with a woman who was in a vulnerable position when he first met during the course of his duties as a police officer.

“The serious offences for which he has now been convicted represent a gross abuse of power and a predilection for violent sexual offending.

“His actions are a complete betrayal of the standards the public rightly expect from those entrusted with policing.”

Ms Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, was kidnapped, raped and murdered by then-serving Met officer Wayne Couzens in early March 2021. He was later given a whole-life order.

Carrick, 51, who previously served as an armed officer in the Met, is currently serving 37 life sentences after attacking more than a dozen women.