Wayne Couzens, the armed police officer who raped and murdered Sarah Everard, was assigned to guard MPs at the Houses of Parliament on numerous occasions, the Metropolitan Police said on Saturday.

       Couzens was given a pass on five occasions from February to July 2020.

       Tim Loughton, a Conservative member of the home affairs select committee, described the revelation as “very worrying” and further evidence “that the Met's vetting procedures leave a lot to be desired”.

       He added: “Security requirements are necessarily high and we rely heavily on brave and trusted officers to protect everyone working on the estate so it is deeply worrying that someone who has turned out to be such a brutal murderer was cleared to work in such a sensitive area as Parliament.”

       The revelation came as Robert Buckland, the former justice secretary, said the Met Police’s attempt to put the onus on women to keep themselves safe following the murder of Sarah Everard was “repugnant”.

       Mr Buckland said placing the burden on women to stay safe “further reduces trust” in the police.

       The Met is under pressure to establish an independent inquiry into the death of Miss Everard, 33, who was abducted, raped and murdered by Wayne Couzens, a serving police officer.

       Couzens was accused of other sexual offences, including indecently exposing himself three days before he killed Ms Everard, but he was never investigated.

       'Absolutely forensic investigation' required into what went wrong

       Lord Blair, who served as Met commissioner from 2005 to 2008, said the force needed to be subjected to “an absolutely forensic” investigation into what went wrong on Couzens.

       Lord Blunkett, the former home secretary, said: “There’s a very good reason to have a thorough walk-through of the whole process of how you recruit, how you vet and how you continue to monitor – including interrogating social media accounts – police.”

       The Met provoked fury by advising people who do not feel safe being detained by a plain-clothed police officer to wave down a bus or call 999.

       In an article for The Telegraph, Mr Buckland writes: “The notion that the burden to stay safe should be on our wives, partners, sisters, daughters and female friends is, quite frankly, repugnant and further reduces trust.”

       However, Mr Buckland said “police-bashing” would not help restore public trust.

       He revealed that one of his last acts as a minister was to sign off on a consultation regarding proposals for legislation that would give victims “greater accountability”, which would then “reduce the number of times when things go wrong”.

       Dominic Raab, Mr Buckland’s successor, said he began looking at the draft Bill “on day one” of his new position.

       The Met Police faces another potential crisis in public confidence when an inquest begins on Tuesday into the victims of Stephen Port, a serial killer who targeted men on a gay dating website.

       The jury will look into the investigation by the Met Police.

       A Met Police spokesperson said: "Couzens was deployed to armed static protection duties on the Parliamentary Estate on five occasions from February to July 2020."

       Couzens was never issued with a Parliamentary pass. It is understood he accessed the Parliamentary Estate with a temporary police pass, which gives limited access to the Estate. These passes are issued to police officers in Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection who are not regularly posted to the Estate. They are issued at the beginning of the shift, returned at the end, and are tightly controlled.