Two Metropolitan Police officers and a former officer who were charged over sharing offensive WhatsApp messages with Sarah Everard’s killer have been named.

PC Jonathon Cobban, PC William Neville, and ex-constable Joel Borders are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 16 March, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.

Cobban and Borders have been charged with five counts of sending grossly offensive messages, while Neville has been charged with two counts of the same offence.

According to the IOPC, the alleged offences occurred between April and August 2019.

Last week when the charges were first announced, the CPS said that it could not release their names due to “operational reasons”.

The head of the CPS Special Crime Division, Rosemary Ainslie, said: “Each of the three defendants has been charged with sending grossly offensive messages on a public communications network.

“The alleged offences took place on a WhatsApp group chat.”

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She added: “The function of the CPS is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges to a court to consider.

“Criminal proceedings are active and nothing should be published that could jeopardise the defendants’ right to a fair trial.”

Sarah Everard was raped and murdered last year by serving Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens, who is now serving a whole life order.

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