Wayne Couzens: Killer cop’s QC believes he should NOT die behind bars because there are worse crimes

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Britain’s most hated policeman Wayne Couzens was today jailed for the rest of his life with no chance of parole because he used his ‘office and authority’ to kidnap, rape and murder his victim Sarah Everard.

Lord Justice Fulford said Couzens, who looked at his feet and hands throughout today’s Old Bailey hearing, was a ‘warped’ killer who had spent a month planning to abduct and rape a woman using his position as a Met Police officer to carry out one of the most shocking crimes in recent history. 

The judge made the killer stand and face the court as he handed down a whole life term reserved for around 70 of Britain’s most dangerous criminals, saying that Couzens’ deception and his misuse of his role as a police officer had ‘eroded the confidence’ in the police for millions.

He said: ‘Sarah Everard was a wholly blameless victim of a grotesque series of offences’, adding ‘She was simply walking home’.

The judge added the circumstances of the case are ‘devastating, tragic and wholly brutal’ and the evidence gathered against Couzens by his former colleagues at the Met and Kent Police was ‘unanswerable’ and there was ‘no credible innocent explanation’ for it, he said.

Couzens went ‘hunting a lone female to kidnap and rape’ having planned in ‘unspeakably’ grim detail, the judge said, adding: ‘Notwithstanding his guilty pleas, in my view the defendant throughout sought to minimise his true responsibility for what occurred. At no stage has he offered any kind of full explanation as to what occurred in the fateful few hours’.

The defendant’s preparations included taking some of his police kit with him and lying to his family about working on the night of the murder, the Old Bailey heard.

The judge paid tribute to the dignity of Ms Everard’s family, whose statements in court revealed the human impact of the ‘warped, selfish and brutal offending which was both sexual and homicidal.’  Lord Justice Fulford said Couzens tried to ‘minimise his true responsibility’ for what had occurred from the moment he spoke to police.

He said the defendant must have realised he ‘may well need to kill the woman he intended to abduct and rape’ but that did not become a ‘definite outcome’ before events began to unfold.

Earlier Couzens’ QC told the Old Bailey earlier that Couzens shouldn’t die behind bars because there have been ‘worse crimes’ than the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard.

Couzens’ defence lawyer Jim Sturman claimed his client, 48, is ‘filled with self-loathing, abject shame and remorse’ for killing Miss Everard, 33, despite his client never offering any explanation or public apology for what he has done. 

Mr Sturman admitted that Couzens still cannot face Sarah’s parents, who are in court today and told him yesterday to look at them when they described their collective grief, torment and rage because of what he did to their daughter, branding him a ‘monster’ and ‘the very worst of humanity’.

He said: ‘He was invited to look at the Everards. He could not I am told. He is ashamed. What he has done is terrible. He deserves a very lengthy finite term but he did all he could after he was arrested to minimise the wicked harm that he did.’

The married father-of-two will be sentenced by Lord Justice Fulford at 11.30am for the appalling murder of Sarah as the Met Police faces questions about how an officer nicknamed ‘The Rapist’ by former colleagues was still on duty despite warnings he had flashed two women just before he abducted and killed the marketing executive on the night of March 3.

A whole life term has only been handed to 50-plus of the most dangerous prisoners in British history since the death penalty was abolished, including Rose West, the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, Dennis Nilsen, Dr Death Harold Shipman and most recently in 2021, Reading jihadi Khairi Saadallah.  

But Jim Sturman QC claimed that while Couzens had pre-planned the abduction, it was ‘not inevitable’ that Sarah would be murdered, adding he should be shown some leniency for pleading guilty and sparing her family the ‘agony’ of a three-week trial. He also said Couzens mental health problems were ‘genuine’ and he had ‘not played the system’.

He said: ‘There is very little evidence he drove from Kent to London with murder on his mind’, arguing he bought the items to dispose of the body after she was strangled to death with his police-issue belt, adding: ‘Nothing I say today is at all intended to minimise the horror of what Couzens did’ and that Couzens ‘makes no excuses’.

Mr Sturman said Couzens’s guilty pleas had saved the Everards ‘the terror’ of what the verdicts would be. He said his family struggled to reconcile how ‘the man they loved’ who had given ‘no indication of violence towards the person’ could have ‘behaved in this way’.

Mr Sturman added: ‘He appeared to be living a life as a law-abiding man with a loving family and his colleagues described him as calm and friendly.

‘Nothing I say today is at all intended to minimise the horror of what the defendant did that night and after. He makes no excuses for his actions, he accepts he will receive, and he deserves, a severe punishment. No right-minded person… can feel anything other than revulsion for what he did.

‘He does not seek to make excuses for anything that he did and he is filled with self-loathing and abject shame. And he should be.’  

Couzens cut a pathetic figure as he refused to raise his head in the dock as Sarah Everard’s family told him of their torment, rage and being haunted by her final hours. Couzens, a married father of two, even walked his family in woodland yards from where he had dumped Sarah’s body.

Her mother Susan faced him at the Old Bailey yesterday and in a brave and moving victim impact statement called him ‘the very worst of humanity’ and revealed she wakes every morning and always thinks: ‘Don’t get in the car, Sarah. Don’t believe him. Run!’. She added: ‘I am repulsed by the thought of Wayne Couzens and what he did to Sarah’.

Her father, Jeremy Everard, demanded Couzens look at him while he was giving his testimony but his daughter’s murderer refused, having kept his head bowed throughout yesterday’s six-hour hearing.

Couzens stopped Miss Everard on the street and used Covid laws as a ploy to ‘arrest’ the marketing executive and force her into his rental car before raping and strangling her to death in a sickening five-hour ordeal.

Footage taken from a passing dashcam shows the 33-year-old stood on a pavement on Poynders Road in Clapham as Couzens, who was wearing handcuffs on his police belt, speaks to her. 

She was then driven for two hours to Dover where he forcibly moved her from the hire car into his own black Seat before continuing along remote back roads to Hoad’s Wood where he raped her, strangled her with his belt and stashed her body in a fridge.

Earlier that night, he spent two hours driving through central and south London – prowling Kensington, Lavender Hill and Earls Court for a lone young woman to abduct – before stalking Miss Everard and stopping next to her.  

The twisted Met Protection Officer can be seen producing his warrant card as he claimed Miss Everard had breached Covid restrictions.

Couzens then cuffed her hands behind her back, leaving her incapable of undoing the seatbelt he strapped around her after ordering her into the back of his rental car. 

As the depraved killer watched in the Old Bailey with his head bowed, Miss Everard’s family heard in horrific detail how Miss Everard spent her final hours before the serving Metropolitan Police officer raped and murdered her, and then burned her body in a pre-meditated attack that was weeks in the planning. 

Her mother Susan told the Old Bailey: ‘Sarah died in horrendous circumstances. I am tormented at the thought of what she endured. 

‘I play it out in my mind. I go through the terrible sequence of events. I wonder when she realized she was in mortal danger; I wonder what her murderer said to her. When he strangled her, for how long was she conscious, knowing she would die? It is torture to think of it. Sarah was handcuffed.’

Her father Jeremy added: ‘Sarah was handcuffed and unable to defend herself. This preys on my mind all the time.

It coincided with a string of increasingly sick behaviour which saw the married father-of-two flashing two women in McDonald’s across two separate incidents. 

Witnesses later described how Miss Everard – who had spent the evening at a friend’s house sharing a bottle of wine – appeared ‘compliant’ with her ‘head down’ as the ‘confident-looking’ officer made what seemed to be a late-night arrest at the height of lockdown in March.

CCTV footage captured by a passing bus showed Miss Everard in the back seat of Couzens’ hire car after she was falsely ‘arrested’. 

Couzens, who lied to his family about working a night shift that evening, then drove Miss Everard 80 miles to a remote stretch of road in his home county of Kent. Prosecutor Tom Little QC said: ‘She must have realised her fate.’ 

Miss Everard’s devastated family listened from the public gallery as the Old Bailey heard harrowing details of how Couzens took her to a rural area and raped her, before later being seen buying Lucozade and other drinks from BP station with her body in boot, after she was believed to have been murdered.

Distressing details of the timeline suggest Miss Everard could have been alive for more than four hours in the back of Couzens’ car. She was snatched off the street by 9.30pm and when the killer pulled into the garage at 2.30am, Sarah is thought to have been in his boot, already dead. 

The court heard he confessed to a psychiatrist that he had strangled Miss Everard with his belt, and the prosecution said her injuries were consistent with ones that would have been caused by his police belt.

Couzens – who had prepared for the abduction by buying a rental car and a sheet of film from Amazon – hid her body inside a fridge in a patch of rubbish-strewn woodland before torching it. 

Footage released by police showed the moment Couzens rented the car he would go on to use to prowl the streets of London for almost two hours before picking up Miss Everard.

The CCTV clip showed Couzens calmly laughing with a female attendant. He joked ‘you’ve put me on the spot’ while trying to remember his phone number as she took his details.

He went on to visit a Tesco store in west London to buy a pack of 14 hairbands just an hour before Miss Everard was abducted on March 3, before making further trips to a B&Q two days after Miss Everard is believed to have been killed. He also visited a Homebase in Folkestone on the morning of Monday, March 8.

CCTV footage showed the moment he went on to visit a BP garage in Dover on Friday, March 5 to buy and fill a petrol canister – believed to have been used to burn Miss Everard’s body. 

Just days after the murder, the father-of-two took his wife and children on a family trip and allowed the youngsters to play near a pond where he had dumped Miss Everard’s remains, the prosecution said.

Quizzed by police, he lied that he had been ‘leant on’ by an Eastern European gang who threatened to harm his family if he did not agree to pick up a woman and hand her over to the occupants of a van near Maidstone.

Taken to Wandsworth Police Station, he repeatedly tried to self-harm by banging his head on a sink and running into a wall, and was put under constant watch before appearing in court. 

Yesterday, Miss Everard’s family and friends gave victim impact statements to the Old Bailey. 

The Old Bailey heard horrific details of the serving police officer’s deceit and Sarah’s final hours before she was raped, murdered and burned in a pre-meditated attack that was weeks in the planning: 

Prosecution say five words summarise what PC Wayne Couzens did to Sarah Everard: ‘Deception, kidnap, rape, strangulation, fire’; Friends in Deal said Couzens was regularly seen wearing his police belt with handcuffs and pepper spray, when not on duty, and he lied that he was an undercover police officer;In December 2020 he joined Match.com and said he had no wife and children. He also signed up to an escort agency; In January 2021, Couzens worked on COVID patrols and ‘used this knowledge’ to kidnap his victim, who he stopped after doing laps of west and south-west London on the night of March 3, 2021;On February 10 he bought a ‘police standard issue handcuff key with double locking pin’ from Amazon, which he used on his police-issue cuffs to detain Sarah Everard and force her into his hire car;On February 28, Couzens booked a hire car online from Enterprise and ordered a 100m roll of carpet protector film from Amazon, used to line the boot where he eventually kept Sarah’s body;He had told his wife that he was working a night shift when he grabbed Sarah – in fact he was off duty and cruising the streets looking for a victim;A couple driving past witnessed the kidnapping. Couzens using his warrant card and handcuffs to make a false arrest. They believed she had ‘done something wrong’ so didn’t intervene;  A former boyfriend said Sarah was ‘extremely intelligent, savvy and streetwise’ and would never get into a stranger’s vehicle ‘unless by force or by manipulation’, which is exactly what Couzens did; Sarah was driven 80 miles to the Kent coast, where she was raped and murdered after a five-hour ordeal; In 2019 Wayne Couzens bought plot of woodland in Hoads Wood near Ashford. He bragged it was ‘perfect for day trips’ – but it’s where he burned Sarah’s body and dumped it in bags in shallow water; Couzens took his family on a trip to the woods where he burned Miss Everard’s body – allowing his children to play near where it was dumped;Phoned vet to arrange for an appointment to see his dog and handed in his Met Police firearms licence; Lied about being forced to ‘pick up a girl’ by an Eastern European gang who threatened his family;Admits to killing her with his belt – with prosecution saying injuries were consistent with his police belt;Couzens repeatedly self-harmed in his cell, as police divers found Miss Everard’s phone in the River Stour; Miss Everard’s father demanded killer ‘look me in the face’, mother said she was ‘haunted’ by murder and sister called Couzens ‘a monster’;Court also heard how Couzens was ‘attracted to brutal sexual pornography’ 

 

Heartbreaking timeline of the murder that shocked Britain: How killer policeman abused Covid powers to snare Sarah Everard… before trying to cover up his monstrous crime

Wayne Couzens had served as a special constable for Kent Police, before moving to the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and eventually joining Scotland Yard as a firearms officer in September 2018 – during which time he had been trusted to protect MPs and diplomats, and guarding key buildings including the US Embassy.

Colleagues regarded the married father of two as a ‘family man’, but in truth he was a porn-obsessed predator who is thought to have blown cash on escorts, and had begged for a pay rise after amassing debts of almost £30,000. 

He spent lockdown trawling dating sites, falsely claiming to be a single man with no children, while at least one colleague reported knowing he was ‘attracted to violent sexual pornography’ as far back as 2002. 

Couzens had joined colleagues on uniformed patrols enforcing lockdown in January. This appears to have inspired his sickening plot.         

In handcuffs, the moment the killer is confronted by police at his home with a picture of his victim 

This is the moment police confronted Wayne Couzens with a picture of Sarah Everard at his home.

The murderer was caught and handcuffed after his hire car was traced to his address.

Detectives arrived at his house in Deal, Kent, at 5.45pm on Tuesday, March 9, six days after he snatched his victim.

But they didn’t move in for two hours, allowing Couzens – who may have spotted the plain-clothed officers – to wipe his phone at 7.11pm.

They finally moved in at 7.45pm and arrested him when his children were getting ready for bed. At first he claimed he knew nothing about Miss Everard, then spun a sickening web of lies about being forced to kidnap her for an Eastern European gang.

Claiming he was in ‘in financial s***’ after trying to ‘rip off a call girl’, he said gangsters had warned they would harm his family unless he snatched a girl.

He said the gang threatened him when he was with another prostitute and had been following him, turning up outside his home. 

Couzens claimed he handed over Miss Everard alive at a roundabout by Charing Racecourse in Kent and suggested officers go to Folkestone and Maidstone Services to find the gang.

When asked where she was, he said: ‘If I could do something to get her back right this minute, I would.’ But he then added: ‘I’ll do it again tomorrow if it meant saving my family.’

A day later police discovered Miss Everard’s body.

Even as his story unravelled, the cowardly killer clung to his lies and has still refused to tell police the truth about what he did, to the enduring agony of his victim’s family. 

 

Fake arrest ‘for breaking lockdown rules’ used to kidnap Miss Everard as she walked home from a friend’s house

Wayne Couzens accused Sarah Everard of breaking lockdown rules to make a ‘fake arrest’.

The policeman used his handcuffs and warrant card to snatch Miss Everard as she walked home from visiting a friend in Clapham, south London, on the evening of March 3.

The sexual predator, who had clocked off from a 12-hour shift that morning, went on to rape and strangle the 33-year-old marketing executive before setting fire to her body.

A week after she disappeared, Miss Everard’s remains were found in a woodland stream in Ashford, Kent, just yards from land owned by Couzens.

CCTV footage showed Couzens raising his left arm holding a warrant card before handcuffing Miss Everard and putting her into the hire car.

A passenger in a passing car witnessed the kidnapping but mistook it for an arrest by an undercover officer, the court heard.

A woman on the pavement appeared to have her left arm behind her back and was in the process of ‘giving her other arm behind her back’ as a man in dark clothing handcuffed her, according to the witness.

Mr Little said: ‘The immediate impression the passenger formed was that she was witnessing an undercover police officer arresting a woman, whom she assumed ‘must have done something wrong’.

‘They were in fact witnessing the kidnapping of Sarah Everard. She was detained by fraud. The defendant using his warrant card and handcuffs as well as his other police issue equipment to affect a false arrest.’    

 

Below is a summary of Couzens’ murder hearing in the order it was heard in court:

Victim of ‘deception, rape, strangulation and fire’ 

Sarah Everard was the victim of ‘deception, kidnap, rape, strangulation, fire’, the Old Bailey heard at the start of her murderer’s sentencing.

Wayne Couzens was a serving PC with the Metropolitan Police when he snatched Miss Everard as she walked home in Clapham, south London, on the evening of March 3.

The sexual predator, who had clocked off from a 12-hour shift that morning, went on to rape and strangle the 33-year-old marketing executive.

A week after she disappeared, Miss Everard’s body was found in a woodland stream in Ashford, Kent, just metres from land owned by Couzens.

Prosecutor Tom Little QC said: ‘The defendant’s plot of land is very close to, and in the same woods, that he was to burn Sarah Everard’s body after he had murdered her.

‘He then moved her body in green bags that he had purchased specifically for that task to a pond deeper into the woods but which was only about 130 metres from his plot.’

Opening the facts, Mr Little said the disappearance of Miss Everard was one of the most widely publicised missing person investigations the country has ever seen.

After her body was discovered in woodland, it became summarised by the hashtag ‘she was just walking home’, he said.

But that did not completely describe what happened to Miss Everard, the court heard.

Mr Little said: ‘Whilst it is impossible to summarise what the defendant did to Sarah Everard in just five words, if it had to be done then it would be more appropriate to do so as deception, kidnap, rape, strangulation, fire.’

Miss Everard: ‘Extremely intelligent, savvy and streetwise’

Miss Everard was described by a former long-term boyfriend as ‘extremely intelligent, savvy and streetwise’ and ‘not a gullible person’, the Old Bailey heard.

He said he could not envisage her getting into a car with someone she did not know ‘unless by force or manipulation’, according to Mr Little.

He said Couzens worked on Covid patrols in late January this year, enforcing coronavirus regulations, so would have known what language to use to those who may have breached them.

Couzens was said to be wearing his police belt with handcuffs and a rectangular black pouch, similar to a pepper spray holder, when he kidnapped Miss Everard.

Mr Little said he snatched Miss Everard in a ‘false arrest’, by ‘handcuffing her and showing his warrant card’.

The prosecutor said he must have taken her mobile phone from her and removed the sim card, which he tried to destroy.

Ahead of the start of the two-day hearing, Scotland Yard released a statement which read: ‘We are sickened, angered and devastated by this man’s crimes which betray everything we stand for.

‘Our thoughts are with Sarah’s family and her many friends. It is not possible for us to imagine what they are going through.

‘We recognise his actions raise many questions and concerns but we will not be commenting further until the hearing is complete.’   

Killer was in debt for £29,000, rowed with the Met over pay, had a fake Match.com profile, and used escorts

Couzens was in debt to the tune of £29,000 at the time of the killing, the Old Bailey heard. 

Mr Little said: ‘In relation to finances at the material time his bank accounts were generally overdrawn only being brought into credit for short periods either by wages paid in and/or the use of short term payday loans.

‘He had a total debt of just under £29,000 with a number of financial institutions, which were the subject of a debt management plan agreed in Oct 2020 with a debt management company, Payplan, with agreed monthly repayments of £235.

‘As at March 2021, the defendant also had a credit card account with NatWest which was in debt (£3460.70); and a PayPal credit card account which was also in debt (£1580.27); both of which had debt payment plans in place to make minimum monthly payments.’ 

Couzens was involved in a dispute with the Met over his pay,’ Mr Little said, adding: ‘He talked freely to colleagues about this, and the fact that he was hoping to obtain legal assistance in the near future. He had not discussed any other financial problems with colleagues. 

‘Most of his colleagues had the impression that he was a ”family man’.’ 

The court also heard how Couzens had been paying for sex with escorts and had a Match.com profile under a fake name. 

Mr Little said: ‘In early February 2021, the defendant was in contact with an escort with username ”escourtbabygirl” through the Adult Work Escort Service.’  

 Lord Justice Fulford asked the Crown if they were planning on bringing up evidence he had seen in written submissions that colleagues said Couzens was partial to ‘brutal sexual pornography’.

Mr Little said it had been deliberately omitted. Couzens’ lawyer Jim Sturman QC, said it was from 2002 and was irrelevant.  

Couzens bought a rubbish-strewn plot of woodland where he burned Sarah’s body  

The Old Bailey heard that Couzens and his wife had bought a plot of woodland by Ashford, Kent.

Mr Little said: ‘The defendant’s plot of land is very close to, and in the same woods, that he was to burn Sarah Everard’s body after he had murdered her.

‘He then moved her body in green bags that he had purchased specifically for that task to a pond deeper into the woods but which was only about 130 metres from his plot,’ said Mr Little.

PC worked on ‘Covid patrols’ and ‘knew the language used to tackle offenders’

In January this year Couzens was working in ‘Covid patrols’ and was aware of coronavirus regulations and the language used on those who may have breached them, the Old Bailey heard. 

Mr Little said that he had ‘arrested’ and handcuffed Miss Everard for a breach before raping and murdering her. 

He continued: ‘These were uniform Covid patrols in which the Covid regulations were enforced. The defendant undertook a couple of such shifts.

‘He was therefore aware of the regulations and what language to use to those who may or may not have breached them, if speaking to them. He was to use that knowledge to kidnap Sarah Everard.’ 

Policeman carried handcuffs with him while not on duty 

Members of the public had noticed Couzens wearing his police belt when not on duty, with a pair of handcuffs and black pepper spray holder.

‘This is the type of equipment that it can be inferred that the defendant was wearing when he kidnapped Sarah Everard,’ said Mr Little. 

He continued: ‘It was not unusual for officers on PaDP to take personal protective and other equipment (including body armour and handcuffs) home with them from the Lillie Road base – they were required to undertake frequent training, at a number of different locations, to which they would travel directly.

‘For convenience, they would often take home the kit needed.

‘Two members of the public had independently noticed seeing the defendant when he was not on duty wearing his Police belt with handcuffs and a rectangular black pouch (similar to a pepper spray holder) attached to it (whilst out in Deal walking his dog; and when attending a local computer hardware repair shop in the town).

‘This is the type of equipment that it can be inferred that the defendant was wearing when he kidnapped Sarah Everard.

‘It is instructive that in relation to the incident in the repair shop that when the owner asked the defendant jokingly if he was ‘into kinky stuff’ when he referred to the handcuffs that were visible on the defendant’s belt. The defendant said ‘I am an undercover police officer’.

‘As he said that the defendant chuckled but then opened his jacket a little more to reveal his Police issue kit.’ 

Murderer’s final shift before the murder – guarding the American Embassy

Couzens worked his last shift from 7pm on March 2 to 7am the next day. It was a posting at the American Embassy. 

Mr Little said: ‘That evening the defendant discussed the possibility of leaving the Metropolitan Police because of the pay dispute and depending on the outcome he might go off sick with stress.

‘This was meant to be the start of his period of five rest days, from Wednesday Mar 3 at 7am to Mar 8 at 7am, when he was due to return to Lillie Road for a training day.’

The next day he had a sick day but lied to his family, saying he was working another night shift. 

At this point his wife sent a message to his mother saying: ‘Wayne had a call for overtime shift tonight. I wondering if you could pick children from school tomorrow, would you?’. 

Couzens’ journey to ‘hunt a lone young female to kidnap and rape’

After his final shift, Couzens drove back to his home in Kent in his own car, a Seat.  

After leaving home, he picked up a Vauxhall Crossland hire car that he had booked on February 28. 

Around this time, he had ordered a 100m roll of carpet protector film from Amazon, used to line the boot where he eventually kept Miss Everard’s body 

Describing his appearance, Mr Little said: ‘The defendant was wearing a black puffa-style jacket with a Barbour logo on the breast pocket, a dark blue hooded jumper with a yellow lining in the hood, a dark baseball cap with a white Polo logo on the front, light-grey trousers and black and white trainers.’ 

During his journey back to London, Couzens was captured on CCTV purchasing a pack of 14 hair bands at a Tesco in Kensington, which was a ‘significant’ purchase and part of his plans.

He proceeded to drive the car around Earls Court and other parts of central and south London, crossing the river twice.

‘We say circular route taken by the defendant as well as the areas in which he was driving are consistent with the defendant looking for, indeed hunting for a lone young female to kidnap and rape, which is precisely what he did,’ Mr Little said.

Miss Everard’s movements on the night she was abducted and the final phone call to her boyfriend

Miss Everard had worked the day of March 3 at home, and planned to go to a friend’s house near Clapham Junction to have dinner. 

CCTV footage showed the moment she bought a bottle of red wine from a Sainsbury’s on Brixton Hill at 6.30pm before making her way to see her friend.

After leaving her friend’s house around 9pm, Miss Everard made a 14-minute call to her boyfriend, sounding ‘in good spirits’ and ‘not intoxicated.’

They made plans to meet later that week and ended the conversation normally, with Miss Everard intending to walk home through south London, something she did routinely.

‘That call that the last that her family, friends and colleagues heard from her,’ said the prosecutor.

After failing to text a friend she was home safe and missing a work meeting the following day, Miss Everard’s loved ones frantically attempted to find her and her boyfriend reported her missing.

‘Her boyfriend went round to her flat but got no answer,’ Mr Little said. ‘He started to make enquiries with the hospitals and emergency services, and reported Sarah as missing to the police. 

‘He also made enquiries with other friends and family, but nobody had heard from her all day.’ 

Missed chance to stop horror as couple witness kidnapping – but are reassured he was an undercover police officer 

The kidnap happened on Poynders Road (A205), with Couzens travelling in the same direction as Miss Everard. 

In chilling CCTV footage, Couzens is seen driving behind Miss Everard before stepping out of the car and standing a few feet apart from her.

‘We can see the left hand of the defendant come towards Sarah Everard as though he was showing her something, we say the warrant card, and afterwards he must have handcuffed her,’ said Mr Little.

A couple driving past the scene saw Couzens in the process of handcuffing Miss Everard, before leading her towards the hire vehicle.

‘The immediate impression the passenger formed was that she was witnessing an undercover police officer arresting a woman, whom she assumed ‘must have done something wrong’,’ said Mr Little

‘They were witnessing the kidnapping of Sarah Everard.

‘She was detained by fraud. The defendant using his warrant card and handcuffs as well as his other police issue equipment to effect a false arrest.

‘Having handcuffed her to the rear she would not have been able to undo the seatbelt that the defendant must have placed over her.

‘That was the start of her lengthy ordeal including an 80 mile journey whilst detained which was to lead first to her rape and then her murder.

‘At some point fairly soon after driving from the pavement onto the South Circular and having not gone to a police station for example, Sarah Everard must have realised her fate.’ 

Kidnapping took ‘just five minutes’ – as harrowing video shows Miss Everard in the back of Couzens’ car  

The court heard Miss Everard’s kidnapping took less than five minutes.

Harrowing CCTV footage from a private car then showed the marketing executive in the back of Couzens car. 

‘A nearside rear-facing camera shows a figure in the rear passenger seat (behind the driver),’ Mr Little said. 

‘This was plainly Sarah Everard. A figure was also sitting in the driver’s seat. This was the defendant.’

Miss Everard was handcuffed at about 9.34pm, detained in Couzens’ hire car by 9.37pm and they were on their way to Kent a minute later, Mr Little said.

Couzens switches cars into car and takes Miss Everard to a rural area to rape her 

The court was shown CCTV of the defendant’s hire vehicle in Dover shortly after 11.30pm as he transferred his victim to his own car, a Seat.

Couzens then drove to a remote rural area north-west of Dover which he knew well where he parked up and raped Miss Everard.

Between 1.03am and 2.43am, Couzens returned to central Dover with Miss Everard still in his Seat.

Mr Little said the CPS ‘simply can’t say whether it was approximate to the rape or in the hour or two after that’ that Miss Everard was murdered.

With victim’s body in the boot, Couzens buys a Lucozade, hot chocolate and a Bakewell tart 

The court heard the prosecution could not pinpoint the exact time Miss Everard was killed.

However, Mr Little said that she must have been dead by around 2.30am when Couzens pulled into a BP service station in Dover to buy a Lucozade, apple juice, two bottles of still water and a carrier bag. 

He visited Hoads Wood near Ashford twice during in the early morning, leaving just before sunrise.

The court heard he was to return to the area later the following day two more times.

At 8.15am on March 4, Couzens was captured on CCTV in a Costa Coffee shop in Dover buying a hot chocolate and bakewell tart.

He went on to return the Vauxhall hire car having driven just over 300 miles.

Couzens throws Miss Everard’s phone into the sea before returning home 

Later that morning (March 4), Couzens threw Miss Everard’s mobile phone into a channel at Sandwich, only for it to be retrieved by a diver as part of a search of the waterway.

After disposing of the phone he returned home, where he stayed all day. 

During the day a local dental surgery phoned to cancel an appointment for his two children. He was calm and accepting of this on the phone, Mr Little said. 

At around 12.45pm, a local man was driving past Hoads Wood in Ashford where he saw a ‘strong, intense flame’ around three-foot square. 

‘This is consistent with the location where the defendant burnt Miss Everard’s body, clothing and possessions using the petrol he had purchased earlier that day,’ Mr Little said.   

Killer phones vet to speak about his dog before dumping Miss Everard’s body

Having burnt Miss Everard’s body, clothing and possessions inside a refrigerator, Couzens went on to call the vet about his dog.

In the call played in court, Couzens explained that his pet had ‘separation anxiety’.

He then bought builders bags at a B&Q in Dover before returning to the woods.

Mr Little said: ‘Whilst in the woods he must have moved Sarah Everard’s heavily burnt body from where he had set fire to it, to the pond where she was subsequently found.

‘He did so using the two bags that he had just purchased from B&Q.’ 

Couzens takes family on a trip to the woods where he burned Miss Everard’s body – allowing his children to play near where it was dumped

The court heard that on Sunday March 7, Couzens took his wife and two children on a family trip to the woods where only days before he had burned Miss Everard’s body.

En route, he withdrew cash from the same service station he had been to shortly after raping and murdering his victim.

Mr Little said: ‘It follows that the defendant took his family on a family trip to the very woods where days earlier he had left Sarah Everard’s body, then returned to burn it and then returned again to move it and hide it.’

Couzens allowed his children to play in ‘relatively close proximity to where Miss Everard’s body had been dumped in the pond’, he added.

While on his five days’ leave, Couzens had emailed his supervisor to say he felt ‘unable to carry firearms’. 

The court heard this read: ‘Sgt, at this moment in time I feel unable to carry firearms. The stress of my payroll situation is causing me financial implications, I feel totally mislead and disillusioned by the way I have been recruited and the lack of measures to find a solution from HR. 

‘I have been totally honest from the outset all through my application to present. I have provisionally made an appointment with my GP to seek advice. I thought I was in a good place after returning from injury however, this is not the case and I feel more of a liability due to the current situation I find myself in. I will keep you updated throughout.’ 

The following day – March 9 – Couzens went to Homebase to return a flat-pack trolley. A member of staff did not notice ‘anything untoward about his demeanour’ during a 10-minute exchange, Mr Little said. 

Couzens’ lies about being forced to ‘pick up a girl’ by an Eastern European gang who threatened his family  

Dramatic police bodycam footage has revealed how Wayne Couzens tried to spin pathetic lies after police raided his Kent home over the murder of Sarah Everard.

The 48-year-old officer could be seen in a seven-minute video clip handcuffed on his sofa being interviewed by arresting officers in his front room in Deal on March 9.

Couzens initially claimed to the detectives that he did not know Miss Everard, but moments later concocted a ridiculous fantasy story involving an Eastern European gang who had pressured him after he attempted to ‘rip off’ one of their call girls.

Appearing reasonably relaxed, Couzens told police that he had got into ‘financial s***’ and had been ‘lent on by, I don’t know who they are, an immigrant gang, whatever, and they told me I need to go and pick up girls and give them to them’.

The fictitious traffickers supposedly threatened to harm his family if he did not provide them with a victim, and he felt he had ‘no choice’ but to snatch Miss Everard. 

However, at the start of the video, Couzens suggests he has never met Miss Everard, who was the subject of a major missing persons enquiry at the time.

Couzens is shown a picture of Miss Everard on a mobile phone and is asked: ‘Do you know Sarah’, but he replies: ‘I don’t, no.’ 

Asked if he knew where she is, he says: ‘No’. And asked if he knows anything about what happened to her, Couzens then says: ‘I know that she went missing up in London somewhere about a week ago or so just from what I got on the news.’

While speaking, his cat is seen walking through the room and jumping onto a shelf. Asked if he had personally met her, Miss Everard says: ‘No, not personally, no.’

He is then asked if he had had any ‘personal interactions with her’, but says: ‘Why would I have personal interactions with her?’

The detective says that he can’t go into all the evidence, but Couzens replies: ‘I’m sat in handcuffs… so you must have something to say that I know her.’

Pressed by the detective, Couzens tells him: ‘I am in financial s*** and I’ve been lent on by, I don’t know who they are, an immigrant gang, whatever, and they told me I need to go and pick up girls and give them to them.

‘So I said I’ll happily… and it then came through that they are going to harm my family, take them away, use them instead. At that point I had no option to try and find somebody.’

He continues: ‘There was a couple of names, I was told a place to take her, that’s it, that is all I know.’

The detective asks him to tell him about the gang. Couzens says: ‘OK, there was a white Sprinter van. They are between sort of Lenham, Maidstone area that I dropped her off.  

‘I still don’t know, they just, I don’t know, I just parked my car up and then the van come up behind me, flashed me, then they all jumped out and then they [inaudible] this girl.

‘They said ‘you done good’ and I don’t know whether my family’s going to be alright still. They threatened to take my family away from me, so, at that point, I’m doing what I can to protect my family – that’s it. 

‘So all I know it was, roundabout, we could drive there now, I could show you, roughly, I don’t know, Lenham, Maidstone area at all.’

The detective suggests showing him the route on Google Maps, and Couzens says: ‘I drove from Ashford to Maidstone. There’s a roundabout that breaks up, the first big roundabout you come to. 

‘You carry straight over to Maidstone, but instead I went round that roundabout and back up another road and at that point I was flashed and pulled over.  

‘Three guys got out, opened my door, opened that door and pushed me out against the front of the car, took the girl, drove off, that’s it. They said: ‘We’ll be in touch.’ 

‘So I’m here, I’m off work with stress because I’m here to protect my family. I want to be here 24/7 for my family. They come for my family… I’ve got nothing… I’ve got no choice.’

The detective says he will go back over the route with Couzens, but asks him how the supposed gang contacted him or he contacted them. 

Couzens says: ‘I tried to f*** over on one of their call girls and tried to rip her off, so she’s told them and they’ve got me. They just tell me be here, be here, so Hotel Burstin in Folkestone, be here. 

‘So I turned up. But I’ve got no mobile number, and they have [sic] got my mobile number – they’re obviously outside watching, following… I just, honestly.  

‘They’ll come outside, so they’ll be outside here, then they’ll say right, you’ll be in Folkestone this time, or you’re going to be in Ashford this time. That’s it. 

‘There’s no links, telephone numbers, I’m completely on my own, but at the same time being threatened. It had Romanian plates on the van, white Mercedes Sprinter-type van.’

When pressed as to where Sarah Everard was, he said repeatedly that he did not know where she was and that ‘if I could do something to get her back right this minute, I would’, but at the same time he said ‘I’ll do it again tomorrow if it meant saving my family… these guys meant business.’

He claimed he had evidence of that communication in his mobile phone, but when officers examined it they found it had been wiped clean by Couzens.

At the police station, Couzens declined to provide samples of his DNA, saying it was on advice from his solicitor.

And when asked how he had sustained ‘visible scratch marks to his head’ he blamed them on his dog.   

Police pick holes in Couzens’ account, before finding petrol, hairbands and latex gloves at his home

An investigation found the killer was lying, with no vehicles like the one he described as belonging to the fake gangsters being seen on CCTV. 

He was taken to Wandsworth Police Station, where he refused to provide intimate samples, the court heard. 

A large number of significant items were then found at his home, prosecutor Mr Little said. These included: 

A roll of adhesive film that had been ordered on February, inside a cardboard box on the floor in a bedroom;Beige-coloured hairbands and a penis pump from a storage unit in the bedroom;Police kit bag containing a ballistic vest and other items. The contents included a leather handcuff pouch, two police shoulder numbers and one Civil Nuclear Constabulary uniform badges;A green petrol can, identical in appearance to that purchased by Couzens on the morning of March 4; Two opened boxes of off-white large latex gloves, from the workshop and garage respectively;A pair of Quick Plasti Cuffs and pouch, found in the garage.

Miss Everard’s badly burned body is found dumped in a pond – as Couzens tells police he strangled her ‘with his police belt’ 

On March 10, a police search dog team scoured Hoads Wood.

Mr Little described the moment Miss Everard’s body was found partially submerged in a pond inside builders bags.

He said: ‘Several dogs picked up some scent and drew the attention of their handlers to a small pond.

‘Initially only the handles of a green builder’s bag were visible above the surface of the water.

‘Two of the dogs entered the water and indicated interest in the bag. As one of the dogs moved away, the bag appeared to come loose from the floor of the pond, floating upwards and opening up…

‘One of the officers reported that he could see what appeared to be a body in the bag.’

Miss Everard had been badly burned and was still wearing a necklace and gold-coloured ear-ring.

Couzens told a psychiatrist he strangled Miss Everard with his police belt, which tallied with the conclusions of a post-mortem examination which found she died from compression of the neck.   

Two days’ later, a burnt fridge was found in the woods. Evidence suggested Miss Everard’s body was inside before being burned.  

Miss Everard’s blood is found in Couzens’ car – as killer self-harms in custody 

Blood matching that of Miss Everard was found in the front passenger seat, rear seats and boot of Couzens’ Seat. There was also evidence that she had been raped. 

On March 10, the killer told a custody nurse that he ‘experiences anxiety and depression’. 

After being re-arrested for Miss Everard’s murder, he deliberately hit his head on the toilet bowl in his cell, sustained a cut to his head, and was taken to St George’s Hospital. 

He told a nurse he was experiencing ‘suicidal thoughts’. 

When asked how he was feeling in a police interview, he said: ‘I’m in a dark place’. 

When the interview resumed, he answered ‘no comment’ to all questions asked.

On Friday March 12, Couzens self-harmed again by intentionally running into the wall of his cell head first. 

He then banged his head against a wall while waiting for an ambulance.  

Couzens was charged with the murder and kidnap of Sarah Everard on the evening of March 12. 

Mr Little QC told the court: ‘He remained quiet with a lowered gaze, but answered questions politely when prompted.

‘He was placed under constant watch until he first appeared in the Magistrates’ court the following morning.’

Victim’s phone is recovered by a diving team

On Thursday March 18, a police diving team found a mobile phone in the River Stour, which runs alongside Fellowship Walk in Sandwich.

The handset was forensically examined, and identified as Miss Everard’s silver Apple iPhone.

The handset did not contain a SIM card.

Everard’s mother Susan says she is ‘haunted’ by the horror of her daughter’s murder

Reading a statement at the Old Bailey, Susan Everard said: ‘Sarah died in horrendous circumstances. I am tormented at the thought of what she endured.

‘Sarah was handcuffed, unable to defend herself, and there was no one to rescue her. She spent the last hours on this earth with the very worst of humanity.

‘She lost her life because Wayne Couzens wanted to satisfy his perverted desires. It is a ridiculous reason. It is nonsensical. How could he value a human life so cheaply?

‘I am incandescent with rage at the thought of it. He treated my daughter as if she was nothing and disposed of her as if she was rubbish.’

Mrs Everard said she was ‘repulsed’ by the thought of what Couzens did.

She added: ‘I am outraged that he masqueraded as a policeman in order to get what he wanted.’

Father demands Couzens looks him straight in the eye 

Jeremy Everard demanded that her daughter’s killer look at him as he delivered an emotional victim impact statement in court.

He told Couzens: ‘I can never forgive you for what you have done, for taking Sarah away from us.

‘You burnt our daughter’s body – you further tortured us – so that we could not see her again.’

Couzens appeared to shake in the dock as Mr Everard went on: ‘You murdered our daughter and forever broke the hearts of her mother, father, brother, sister, family and her friends.

‘Sarah had so much to look forward to and because of you this has now gone forever.’

Ms Everard’s sister Katie Everard describes Couzens as a ‘monster’

Weeping as she read her statement, Katie Everard said: ‘You used your warrant card to trick my sister into your car. She sat in a car handcuffed for hours.

‘What could she have thought she had done wrong? What lies did you tell her? When did she realise that she wasn’t going to survive the night?

‘My only hope is that she was in a state of shock and that she wasn’t aware of the disgusting things being done to her by a monster. When you forced yourself upon her and raped her.’ 

Shopping in Tesco and B&Q for his kidnap, rape and kill kit: Footage shows Wayne Couzens buy rubble bags, hairbands and a jerry can he used in sickening murder of Sarah Everard

Wayne Couzens, 48, is seen buying hairbands at a Tesco in Kensington, March 3Two days later, following Sarah Everard’s death, he is seen buying petrol canisterThree hours later, CCTV shows him buying two green rubble bags for £9.94Ms Everard’s mother said that her daughter had been ‘disposed of as if she was rubbish’, adding that ‘burning her body was the final insult’

Chilling footage shows Wayne Couzens shopping for rubble bags, hairbands and a jerry can full of petrol he would use in the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard. 

Wayne Couzens, 48, used his Metropolitan Police-issue warrant card and handcuffs to snatch Ms Everard as she walked home from a friend’s house in Clapham, south London, on the evening of March 3.  

The firearms officer, who had clocked off from a 12-hour shift at the American embassy that morning, drove to a secluded rural area near Dover in Kent, where he raped Ms Everard. 

In disturbing footage, released by the Met Police , Couzens is seen on March 3, the night of Ms Everard’s disappearance, at a Tesco Superstore in Kensington, west London, at 8pm. 

He buys a pack of 14 hair bands, which were said to be a ‘significant’ purchase and part of his plans. 

Couzens had strangled marketing executive Ms Everard, who lived in Brixton, south London, with his police belt at or before 2.30am the following morning.

On March 5, at 11.05am, Couzens is seen buying a petrol canister and filling it up at a BP forecourt in Whitfield, Dover. 

Three hours later, CCTV shows him wearing a pale blue face mask while shopping at a B&Q hardware shop in Dover, where he buys two green rubble bags for £9.94.

Ms Everard’s mother Susan said at the Old Bailey that Couzens ‘treated my daughter as if she was nothing and disposed of her as if she was rubbish’.

She added: ‘When Sarah’s burnt remains were found, we spent two terrible days waiting for tests to show how she had died, fearing she had been set alight before she was dead – the thought was appalling.

‘Burning her body was the final insult, it meant we could never again see her sweet face and never say goodbye.’

On March 6 Couzens ordered a tarpaulin and a bungee cargo net on Amazon, which were shipped to him on March 7.

He then calls in sick on March 8, when he was due to return to work.

On March 9 his phone is wiped of all data at 7.11pm, less than an hour before he is arrested at his home in Deal, Kent, at 7.50pm. 

The next day, Ms Everard’s body was discovered in a wooded area of Ashford, Kent, around 100 metres from land owned by Couzens.

She was later formally identified by dental records.  

On Wednesday, Ms Everard’s parents and sister condemned her killer as he sat quaking in the dock with his head bowed at the start of his sentencing at the Old Bailey.

Her father Jeremy Everard demanded the killer look at him as he said: ‘I can never forgive you for what you have done, for taking Sarah away from us.’

Susan Everard said she was ‘incandescent with rage’ at what he had done, saying he disposed of her daughter ‘as if she was rubbish’.

She added: ‘I am outraged that he masqueraded as a policeman in order to get what he wanted.’

Sister Katie Everard wept as she said: ‘My only hope is that she was in a state of shock and that she wasn’t aware of the disgusting things being done to her by a monster. When you forced yourself upon her and raped her.’

Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick also attended court to hear how one of her own officers had abused his position and used his warrant card to kidnap Ms Everard ‘by fraud’ before detaining her ‘by force’.

Prosecutor Tom Little QC suggested the case was so exceptional and unprecedented that it could warrant a whole life order, meaning Couzens would die in jail.

Opening the facts of the case, he said Ms Everard’s disappearance was one of the most widely publicised missing person investigations the country has ever seen.

After her body was discovered a week later, it became summarised on social media by the hashtag ‘she was just walking home’, which did not completely describe what had happened, he said.

‘Whilst it is impossible to summarise what the defendant did to Sarah Everard in just five words, if it had to be done then it would be more appropriate to do so as deception, kidnap, rape, strangulation, fire,’ said Mr Little.

The court heard Ms Everard was described by a former long-term boyfriend as ‘extremely intelligent, savvy and streetwise’ and ‘not a gullible person’.

He said he could not envisage her getting into a car with someone she did not know ‘unless by force or manipulation’, said the prosecutor.

Couzens had worked on uniformed Covid patrols in late January to enforce coronavirus regulations, so would have known what language to use to those who may have breached them, he continued.

He is thought to have been wearing his police belt with handcuffs and a rectangular black pouch, similar to a pepper spray holder, when he kidnapped Ms Everard as she walked home.

‘The fact she had been to a friend’s house for dinner at the height of the early 2021 lockdown made her more vulnerable to and more likely to submit to an accusation that she had acted in breach of the Covid regulations in some way,’ said Mr Little.

The court heard how Couzens had booked a hire car before going out ‘hunting’ for a lone young female to kidnap and rape.

Chilling CCTV footage played in court showed Couzens raising his left arm, holding a warrant card, before handcuffing Ms Everard and putting her into the back of the car.

A passing couple witnessed the kidnapping but mistook it for an arrest by an undercover officer, the court heard.

Mr Little said: ‘She was detained by fraud. The defendant using his warrant card and handcuffs as well as his other police issue equipment to effect a false arrest.’

Couzens worked for the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command after joining the Met in 2018, having transferred from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary.

He was sacked by the force after entering guilty pleas.

Scotland Yard said in a statement ahead of the sentencing hearing: ‘We are sickened, angered and devastated by this man’s crimes which betray everything we stand for.’

Lord Justice Fulford adjourned the case until Thursday when he will hand down his sentence.