Killer police officer Wayne Couzens is 'allowed to jump waiting list' for £17,000 back operation on the NHS

Daily Mail​

a day ago

Disgraced police officer Wayne Couzens was admitted to hospital for a back operation, costing the taxpayer an estimated £17,000.
Couzens, 52, who was found guilty of the kidnapping, rape and murder of Sarah Everard, was escorted from his cell in HMP Frankland in Durham to a nearby hospital for a lumbar procedure - more commonly known as a spinal tap.
The cost of transporting him to and from the Category A prison is believed to have cost the taxpayer an estimated £10,000 as an intensive security team was required.
Couzens, who was reportedly classed as a high-risk escort, had to be accompanied by a custody manager and around four prison officers in a bulletproof - not because he poses a danger to the public but because of the danger the public poses to him.
Politicians from across the political spectrum have expressed concerns that Couzens may have been allowed to jump the waiting list for the spinal tap procedure which costs the NHS up to £7,000 and typically has an 18-week waiting list, according to The Sun.
Luke Akehurst, Labour's North Durham MP, told the publication that the cost of security to take Couzens to hospital was 'an appalling waste of public money.
He added: 'I would be disgusted if it turns out that this vile rapist and murderer was able to jump the queue in front of decent law-abiding people to get his treatment.'
Despite sitting firmly on the opposition benches, Robert Jenrick, shadow Justice Minister, agreed with Mr Akehurst, and said: 'Wayne Couzens is one of the most despicable criminals in our jails and a traitor to the police uniform he wore.
'He should not be given any special treatment in jail,' Mr Jenrick added. 'He's in prison as punishment for his terrible crimes — nobody should forget that.'
A spinal tap involves a needle being inserted into your lower back to drain fluid.
It is performed 'to find out why you're having certain symptoms, to treat a condition, or to give an anaesthetic', according to the NHS.
The University Hospital of North Durham is a short seven-minute drive away from HMP Frankland - and it is the nearest unit to provide spinal taps.
A source told The Sun that Couzens was complaining of backpain whilst at HMP Frankland and although the operation was not an emergency, it was carried out to make him feel more comfortable.
HMP Frankland is the same prison where Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi attacked prison officers with hot cooking oil and makeshift weapons in April.
Abedi was known to be one of the most dangerous inmates in the UK, with a history of attacking officers.
He was ordered to serve a record 55-year minimum term for helping his brother murder 22 people, many of them children, at the Manchester Arena in 2017.
Ms Everard disappeared on the evening of March 3, 2021 after visiting a friend's house on the edge of Clapham Common in London.
Leaving at 9pm, the 33-year-old set off on the 2.5 mile walk home during which she called her boyfriend for around 14 minutes.
At around 9.30pm, two figures are caught by a bus camera on Poynders Road standing beside a white Vauxhall Astra parked on the pavement with hazard lights flashing.
It later emerged that Couzens used his police-issued warrant card to stage a fake arrest.
He then drove Ms Everard to a rural area near Ashford, Kent, where he raped and strangled her with his police belt before burning her body in a fridge and dumping her remains in a nearby pond.
Her body was found a week later on March 10, 2021.
In September that same year, Couzens was served a whole life order at the Old Bailey, and since been found guilty on three counts of indecent exposure which occurred prior to murdering Ms Everard.
Vigils were held across the country to mark Ms Everard's death, including the event at Clapham Common which turned into chaos as Met police officers detained protestors for violating Covid restrictions.
Onlookers claimed that officers shoved women, pinned protestors to the ground and 'elbowed people in the faces'.
In September 2023, the Met Police paid compensation to Patsy Stevenson and Dania Al-Obeid who were arrested at the Clapham vigil, with Scotland Yard chiefs apologising to the two women.
The Met said they 'tried to achieve a balance that recognised the rights of the public to protest and to express their grief and sadness, while also continuing to enforce the relevant Covid legislation.'
'We are working every day to make London a city where women and girls can feel and be safe,' they added.