05 March 2024 , 19:55
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Sarah Everard was harrowingly tricked into thinking a Metropolitan Police officer was arresting her for breaking lockdown rules.
Wayne Couzens, then 48, used his status as a serving officer to convince the 33-year-old marketing executive to get into his car, before he drove them to a remote rural area and horrifically raped and strangled her with his police belt. The horror of Ms Everard's abduction and murder is etched in the minds of women in Britain and across the world.
Tonight, BBC One's Sarah Everard: The Search for Justice documents the Met Police's investigation and subsequent review of the force, which revealed a culture of discrimination, bullying, racism and misogyny. PC Couzens, 51, was handed a whole-life order in September 2021 and was found guilty of three charges of indecent exposure this month.
Former Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens abducted, raped and murdered Sarah Everard (PA)On March 3, 2021, Ms Everard went missing after leaving a friend's flat in Clapham, south London, to walk home around 9pm. The journey should have taken her approximately 50 minutes - but she never made it home. She was pictured on CCTV that evening wearing a green rain jacket, white beanie hat, navy blue printed trousers, and turquoise and orange trainers.
As she headed home to Brixton, Ms Everard was stopped by PC Couzens who issued an 'arrest' in a fake Covid patrol with handcuffs he had bought on Amazon. A couple witnessed the moment they thought they were seeing an undercover police officer arresting a woman and assumed Sarah "must have done something wrong".
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Sarah Everard was dressed in a rain jacket, trousers and beanie as she walked home in Clapham (PA)
The 33-year-old was tragically raped and murdered by Couzens three years ago (undated photo) (PA)Prosecutor Tom Little QC told the court: "They were in fact witnessing the kidnapping of Sarah Everard. She was detained by fraud." In chilling CCTV footage, Couzens is seen driving behind Ms Everard before stepping out of the car and standing a few feet apart from her. "She was compliant, with her head down and did not appear to be arguing," Mr Little said.
Mr Little described how Couzens appeared to touch his belt and hold up his hand towards Ms Everard, as if "showing her something in it". Then he placed the handcuff on her right arm. Mr Little continued: "Strapped in with no means of escaping from the car, Couzens began the 80-mile journey that would lead first to Sarah's rape, then to her murder."
Couzens was captured on CCTV arresting Ms Everard with handcuffs he'd bought off Amazon (PA)The PC used his knowledge of policing to facilitate the horror event. Mr Little said: "The circular route taken by the defendant as well as the areas in which he was driving are consistent with the defendant hunting for a lone young female to kidnap and rape." Mr Little noted that at some point fairly soon after driving from the pavement onto the South Circular, and having not gone to a police station, Ms Everard must have "realised her fate".
Couzens, who was married with two children, murdered Ms Everard then burned her body and dumped it in a builder's bag in a woodland stream near land he owned in Ashford, Kent. He was arrested at his marital home six days after Ms Everard's disappearance. Police had tracked his rental car, which he booked under his own name three days before the murder.
In the documentary tonight, Detective Chief Inspector Katherine Goodwin recalls the exact moment police discovered Couzens was a serving Met Police officer. She said: "I knew that I had to tell my boss and I can just remember the shock of having to just sit on the floor of the office and say to her, 'You're not going to believe this, that he's a police officer'. And then the same questions went through her head as went through my head, 'Are you sure?'"
The detective added that when it was discovered Couzens was suspected of indecent exposure, it "suddenly changed everything, because whilst I might have hoped that Sarah had got into the car with someone she knew, suddenly it was clear to me that she'd got into the car of an alleged sex offender".
- Sarah Everard: The Search for Justice airs tonight on BBC One at 9pm.