London officer gets life sentence for Sarah Everard raping and murdering case that shocked Britain
On Thursday, a police officer was jailed for life for abducting marketing executive Sarah Everard on a London street as she walked home and then raping and murdering her in a case that shocked Britain and stirred protests over violence against women.
Wayne Couzens, 48, a serving London officer who had guarded diplomatic premises, had used his position to stop Everard, the Old Bailey court heard.
Couzens forced Everard, 33, into a hire car as she walked home after visiting a friend in south London on March 3, and her body was later found in woodland around 80 kilometres away in southeast England. A post-mortem concluded she had died as a result of compression of the neck.
Couzens sentenced following a two-day hearing after earlier pleading guilty to murder, rape and kidnap charges.
His whole life sentence means he has no chance of parole. "Nothing can make things better, nothing can bring Sarah back, but knowing he will be imprisoned forever brings some relief," Everard's family said in a statement.
"Wayne Couzens held a position of trust as a police officer, and we are outraged and sickened that he abused this trust to lure Sarah to her death."
The murder prompted public rallies and outpourings of anger from women who have recounted their own experiences and fears of being out alone at night. One witness saw Everard being handcuffed before her abduction, and police investigating the case said he may have used COVID-19 protocols as an excuse to arrest her before killing her falsely. Judge Adrian Fulford said Couzens had long planned a violent sexual assault on a yet-to-be-selected victim who he intended to coerce into his custody.
"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," Fulford said in sentencing remarks.
The seriousness of the case was so "exceptionally high" that it warranted a whole life sentence, Fulford said.
The Metropolitan Police Force, which investigated the murder and for whom Couzens worked, said it was "sickened, angered and devastated" by his crimes. Commissioner Cressida Dick has apologised to Everard's family.
"Our police are there to protect us, and I know that officers will share in our shock and devastation at the total betrayal of this duty," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
0 Comment