The compelling CCTV compilation, the product of 1800 hours of footage, along with the cell site evidence, revealed with absolute clarity the core essentials of what had occurred. He was calm and accepting of this on the phone, Mr Little said. 'I still mentor young women who are joining the police service now. 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. 'All my family want is Sarah back with us. Her mother Susan told the Old Bailey: 'Sarah died in horrendous circumstances. 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.'. Today, more than ever, we miss our strong, beautiful friend, along with the hashtags #internationalwomensday and #FindingSarahEverard. The court heard this read:'Sgt, at this moment in time I feel unable to carry firearms. This preys on my mind all the time. 'He was one of us and we need to look at ourselves very, very carefully to understand a, how was he allowed to be one of us, and what does it say about us as an organisation that he was.'. You have eroded the confidence that the public are entitled to have in the police forces of England and Wales. ', He continues: 'There was a couple of names, I was told a place to take her, that's it, that is all I know.'. 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. The final image of her, captured by a bus camera, also showed a white Vauxhall Astra with its hazard lights on and both front doors open. In her last hours she was faced with brutality and terror, alone with someone intent on doing her harm. 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. 'So I turned up. It is too painful to contemplate a future without Sarah, so I just live in the here and now. The reforms would also allow judges to hand out the maximum sentence to 18 to 20-year-olds in exceptional cases, such as for acts of terrorism leading to mass loss of life. On the other hand, he did not purchase the petrol until after the murder. 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. A passenger in a passing car witnessed the kidnapping but mistook it for an arrest by an undercover officer, the court heard. 8pm: Dame Cressida Dick confirms human remains were found in woodland in Ashford, Kent in the search for Sarah. But video footage from an estate agent's CCTV camera near her home showed no sign of her. Couzens using his warrant card and handcuffs to make a false arrest. But she never got home because a predator - you - was on the loose. I want to speak to her and hug her and hear her laugh and go out for dinners and drinks and dancing. What lies did you tell her? In between leaving the family firm and becoming a Met officer, Wayne Couzens did a spell in the territorial army and worked at the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, where he had firearms training, as part of the team protecting Dungeness nuclear power station. Marketing executive was raped, murdered and burned in pre-meditated attack that was weeks in planning Couzens watched with head bowed while victim's family, friends and boyfriend listened from. He is a fine upstanding man. On Friday March 12, Couzens self-harmed again by intentionally running into the wall of his cell head first. The court heard a colleague in that year spoke of 'his attraction to brutal sexual pornography' but Jim Sturman QC, defending, said it related to a single incident 'which is almost impossible to examine now'; He allegedly nicknamed 'The Rapist' by colleagues in the Civil Nuclear Constabulary - where he was involved in protecting nuclear power stations - because of his inappropriate behaviour around women; He used prostitutes and had a fake Match.com dating profile despite being married with two children, his trial heard; In 2018, it has been claimed that he was reported to bosses for slapping a female police officer's bottom at Bromley police station but it appears no action was taken, a source claimed; While at Bromley, it is also alleged he became the subject of gossip for only stopping female motorists - before taking their details so he could watch their homes - and parking outside schools to leer at mothers and sixth formers; The Met said: 'Couzens was a serving and vetted police officer when he joined the Met. The Met instantly moved to distanced itself from Couzens yesterday before his sentencing had begun, referring to him as a 'former Metropolitan Police officer' in a statement despite him using his job and police belt to kill her. We are still missing her hyoid bone from her throat, which is being checked to see the force you used to strangle her, to determine how long she may have survived. A McDonald's worker today revealed how Wayne Couzens exposed himself to her three weeks before killing Sarah Everard. Ans. 'Having handcuffed her to the rear she would not have been able to undo the seatbelt that the defendant must have placed over her. Recalling Sarah's killing and Couzens subsequent arrest, Ms Obhukova said: 'She (Olena) learned about Sarah on the day when police came to their house. 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. On Thursday March 18, a police diving team found a mobile phone in theRiver Stour, which runs alongside Fellowship Walk in Sandwich. I have to pretend because the thought of not having Sarah forever is too hard to bear. The business closed in 2015. I can only say that Sarah was a very special person and will be missed by so many.". During the morning of 5 March, the defendant purchased petrol in a plastic container and burnt Sarah Everard's body, along with her possessions and clothing, which had been placed in an abandoned refrigerator in Hoads Wood in Kent. He wasn't. The CCTV clip showed Couzens calmly laughing with a female attendant. window.googletag.cmd.push(function() { 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. 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. The court heard he was to return to the area later the following day two more times. 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'. When she was taken, Ms Everard was less than a mile from her flat in Brixton. ', 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.'. The future I was supposed to live with my sister no longer exists. She was last seenwearing a green rain jacket, navy blue trousers with a white diamond pattern and turquoise and orange trainers. In her green rain jacket, blue and white diamond print trousers, blue and orange trainers and green earphones under a white beanie hat, Miss Everard cut a distinctive figure, and police appealed for anyone who might have seen her. 'He does not seek to make excuses for anything that he did and he is filled with self-loathing and abject shame. }); Police spent days desperately trying to piece together Miss Everard's last known movements. He's never done anything untoward. Dan Sales For Mailonline 'I can't comprehend it because he never once previously showed any glimpse of violence, he was never that way. The whole family is and all our friends. But the Met only linked him to the sex crimes after his arrest for Sarah's murder amid claims they were too slow to investigate the incidents at a McDonald's drive thru in Swanley, Kent, where he collected food from his car while wearing no trousers. Her mobile either ran out of battery or was switched off after this as the contact cut off suddenly. 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. Footage from a doorbell camera last captured images of Miss Everard as she walked along the A205 Poynders Road towards Tulse Hill at around 9.30pm. By the time that exercise was complete, there was, in my view, no credible innocent explanation for the evidence gathered against him, and this is relevant to the issue of whether he has expressed genuine remorse or regret. Wayne Couzens accused Sarah Everard of breaking lockdown rules to make a 'fake arrest'. 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. 'It is almost seven months since Sarah died and the pain of losing her is overwhelming. 'She is always in regular contact with us and with her friends and it is totally out of character for her to disappear like this. As to the fourth question did the defendant intend from the outset to murder Sarah Everard? 'We had to go to the flat and pack up Sarah's whole life - washing left hanging up, half sewn outfits, deliveries waiting to be returned, packages waiting at the door ready to be opened. Moment commuter blasts eco-zealots, Devastating tornado picks up car and hurls it through air in Florida, Russian freight train derails and bursts into flames after explosion, Saboteurs wreck Russian train cut power cables 37mi from Ukraine, Women's rights activists and pro-trans campaigners separated, Cambridge students party in the park during annual celebrations, Royal superfans camping on The Mall ahead of King's Coronation, Hundreds of Household Division members rehearse for coronation, Braverman: People crossing Channel are 'at odds with British values', Moment large saltwater crocodile snatches pet dog off beach in QLD, Monstrous tornado seen bearing down on Palm Beach, Historic chairs to be reused by the King for the coronation service. The use of the words 'cases that would normally fall' into this category makes this clear. This has been a case of real legal and tactical difficulty, and the cooperation of the legal profession has been second to none. The feeling of loss is so great it is visceral. All rights reserved. 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. Don't believe him. She worked at a Boots Opticians in Canterbury and is now the laboratory manager of a successful science firm in Kent. 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. She meant everything. 'I am incandescent with rage at the thought of it. ", 'Stop it!' That's it. It is torture to think of it. 'vanished into thin air' after leaving a friend's house in Clapham, south London at around 9pm on Wednesday, March 3. She then began walking to her home address in Brixton, and should have returned home 50 minutes later. 'I speak on behalf of all my colleagues in the Met when I say we are utterly appalled at this dreadful news. How on earth could this have happened?'. 'You burnt our daughter's body - you further tortured us - so that we could not see her again.'. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), If you want to approach them about any concerns you have, please do so. I have not the slightest doubt that the defendant used his position as a police officer to coerce her on a wholly false pretext into the car he had hired for this purpose. Lowth is a 33-year-old marketing director from Brixton who was in a relationship with 33-year-old 'missing' Everard. The degree of preparation and the length of time over which it extended is to be stressed. 'We have to take these indecent exposures as a very serious indicator of abhorrent sexual behaviour. An uncle of Mr Couzens, Kevin Fowle, of Chatham, Kent, told the Mail: 'He's never done anything untoward. The police service must be able to protect and serve our communities. Detectives arrived at his house in Deal, Kent, at 5.45pm on Tuesday, March 9, six days after he snatched his victim. The family of Sarah Everard have heard that an initial postmortem examination has not established how she died, and further inquiries into the cause of her death are ongoing. She didn't have a clue why the police were on their doorstep. 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 news today that it was a Metropolitan Police officer arrested on suspicion of Sarah's murder has sent waves of shock and anger through the public and through the whole of the Met. Paragraph 2(2) of the Schedule provides a list of cases that would normally fall in this category, namely those, first, involving the murder of two or more persons, where each murder involves a substantial degree of premeditation or planning, the abduction of the victim, or sexual or sadistic conduct; second, the murder of a child if involving the abduction of the child or sexual or sadistic motivation; third, the murder of a police officer or prison officer in the course of his or her duty; fourth, a murder done for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause, or, fifth, a murder by an offender previously convicted of murder. 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. 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. By Two miles west of Ashford in Kent, the desolate spot is flanked by a railway line and an abandoned golf and paintballing centre. 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. ', A neighbour at the 200,000 three-bedroom house in Deal, Kent, that Mr Couzens shares with his 'chatty' wife and two young children said: 'They just seemed like a normal, regular family. We loved being a part of Sarah's world and expected her to have a full and happy life. She said: 'Sarah's kidnap, rape and murder was one of the most dreadful events in the 190-year history of the Metropolitan Police Service. The woman said she was working at a drive-thru on the A20 near Swanley in Kent at the start of February when she saw Couzens pulling up by the order hatch with his trousers down. They asked the media and the public for help, saying: 'With every day that goes by we are getting more worried about Sarah. We have kept her dressing gown - it still smells of her and I hug that instead of her. Which meant she was conscious when you were doing these unfathomable things to her. After his final shift, Couzens drove back to his home in Kent in his own car, a Seat. 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. At this point his wife sent a message to his mother saying:'Wayne had a call for overtime shift tonight. When you forced yourself upon and raped her. Deputy Commissioner Sir Stephen House said: 'We will not operate plain clothes officers on their own. According to those in the know, she was dreadful at karaoke but "brilliant" at everything else. Fly-tipped her like she meant nothing. All signs of a life waiting to be lived - chores to be done, ready for her to return and continue when she got home. 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. The 33-year-old is understood to have left her friend's house through a back gate onto the A205 South Circular at around 9pm on March 3. There is no punishment that you could receive that will ever compare to the pain you have caused us. A woman, 39, was arrested at the same address in Kent on suspicion of assisting an offender. She didn't speak very good English. Couzens was only identified as a suspect after Miss Everard's murder. Mr Sturman urges the court to conclude that the defendant did not depart for London intending to kill his victim and that this intention was formed later. She added: 'I think this is a watershed moment for policing. Armed policeman Wayne Couzens had only just finished a shift protecting Westminster VIPs when he was arrested. She was kidnapped, raped, and murdered by the cop. March 6: Met Police release an appeal, saying Sarah was thought to have walked through Clapham Common, heading towards Brixton home, a journey of 50 minutes. These included: 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. Speaking outside Scotland Yard last night, a grim-faced Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick broke the news of the tragic discovery of human remains. By Tania Ganguli. At most, this diagnosis is simply part of the overall picture of the factors that contribute to an understanding of the kidnapping, rape and murder. 'Two of the dogs entered the water and indicated interest in the bag. In due course he cleaned the exterior of his Seat motorcar. Mr Sturman emphasises the ease with which other accused might have advanced wholly false allegations as part of a defence, some of which might have involved slurs on the character and reputation of the deceased.