Sarah Everard’s body is released to her family ahead of her funeral

Murdered Sarah Everard’s body has been released to her family to be laid to rest at a funeral, the opening to her inquest was told this morning watched by her parents and siblings.

Miss Everard’s remains were found in woodland near Ashford in Kent a week after she vanished on March 3.

Kent Coroner’s Court was told the kidnapped 33-year-old had two post mortems after the first proved inconclusive, but no cause of death was given.

It was also told the alarm was raised over her disappearance after she failed to turn up for a meeting at work on March 4. 

The inquest, which was led by senior coroner Patricia Harding, was held in County Hall in Maidstone.

Acting Detective Iinspector Lee Tullett, who is one of the Met Police’s investigating officers in the case, told the hearing Miss Everard went missing after having dinner at a university friend’s home in Clapham.

Her body was found in an area of Hoad’s Wood behind a disused golf course in Great Chart near Ashford, Kent on March 10.

Mr Tullett said: “We discovered Sarah there on March 10 at about 4.20pm.”

She was formally identified by forensic odontologist Simon Sampson in the mortuary at William Harvey Hospital.

It came as police were seen putting up a forensic tent at a St John’s Ambulance centre near to a garage that used to be owned by the suspect’s family. 

Met policeman Wayne Couzens, 48, has been charged over the death and abduction of Miss Everard and is facing a four-week trial in October. 

Yesterday scene of crime officers took away bags of items – including scissors and what appeared to be a long tool handle – from areas in Kent where they were investigating the murder. 

The forensic experts, dressed in blue protective suits, could be seen walking away from the four sites of interest in Sandwich near Dover with the plastic bags.

One had a pair of bandage cutting scissors inside while others contained a black item in a smaller zip lock pouch.

What appeared to be the handle to some kind of tool was put into a transparent protective tubing to take away for analysis. Earlier police investigating the murder had cordoned off an abandoned builders’ yard in Kent.

Office had taped up the area in Sandwich, which contains a concrete mixing machine, a skip as well as a green lorry box. 

The wasteland was not far from the the areas they have been already searching for any evidence, including Miss Everard’s missing phone. 

It came as divers renewed their underwater hunt as the search of the 300-metre Delf Stream continued for a third day yesterday.

Officers had focused on a 50-metre portion of the waters near to the town’s Ropewalk area.

Forensic officers have been concentrating on a specific area in the tourist spot for three days, meticulously rooting through bins, lifting stones and drains for the investigation.

Monday saw them take away a gold necklace discovered on top of a parking ticket machine on the first day of their search.

Then yesterday they delved into the network of drains systems snaking underneath the 4,500-population Medieval town. 

But the stream has been of constant interest, with neighbouring Devon and Cornwall Police even providing divers to bolster numbers at one point.  

Miss Everard’s inquest will open tomorrow in Kent and but a first post mortem into her cause of death was inconclusive.

Sandwich is some 35 miles away from where Sarah’s remains were found last Wednesday in woodland in Ashford, Kent.

The Old Bailey heard yesterday Couzens had finished work in London at least nine hours before she went missing.

Details on the Diplomatic Protection Officer and his shift pattern were disclosed at his first crown court appearance on Tuesday morning.

Couzens, who had a large injury on his head and black left eye, appeared to rock to and fro during the hearing. 

It was told he faced a trial of up to four weeks, which has been pencilled in for the start of October. 

The Met Police revealed that Couzens joined the force two years ago in September 2018 when he worked for a response team covering the Bromley area.

He then moved to the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command in February last year. 

The searches have come as Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick remains at the centre of a political storm after a vigil held to remember Sarah on Clapham Common on Saturday night saw scenes of police restraining and arresting women.

Boris Johnson on Monday threw his support behind her when he was asked if he still had full confidence in her.

He said: ‘Yes, I do. The police do have a very, very difficult job. But there’s no question that the scenes that we saw were very distressing and so it is right that Tom Winsor, the inspector of constabulary, should do a full report into it.’

Home Secretary Priti Patel described footage of the vigil as ‘distressing’ but she added: ‘I continue to urge everyone, for as long as these regulations are in place, not to participate in large gatherings or attend protests.

‘The right to protest is the cornerstone of our democracy but the government’s duty is to prevent more lives being lost during this pandemic.’

A snap poll showed the public was divided on whether the vigil should have gone ahead.

The YouGov survey showed 40 per cent of Britons argue the event should have been permitted, while 43 per cent said it should not have continued.

There was also a slight gender divide, with 42 per cent of women backing the vigil, compared to just 38 per cent of men.