Police charge Sarah Everard suspect with murder

A serving Diplomatic Protection Officer with the Metropolitan Police has tonight been charged with the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard. 

Wayne Couzens, 48, was charged with kidnapping and killing the marketing executive, who went missing while walking home from a friend’s flat in south London on March 3.

He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court tomorrow.

In a statement, Rosemary Ainslie, head of special crime at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘Following a referral of evidence by the Metropolitan Police related to the death of Sarah Everard, the CPS has authorised the police to charge Wayne Couzens with murder and kidnapping.’

The Met Police said Couzens joined the force two years ago in September 2018 when he worked for a response team covering the Bromley area, before moving to the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command in February last year.

Couzens, who is part of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, is accused of abducting marketing executive Sarah as she walked home from a friend’s house in Clapham, south London, last Wednesday.

She was last seen on a doorbell camera at the junction of Poynders Road and Cavendish Road at 9.30pm after crossing through Clapham Common. 

On her way home, Miss Everard had spoken to her boyfriend Josh Lowth, 33, on the telephone and arranged to meet the next day. She was reported missing after friends and family were unable to reach her.

Earlier today, Scotland Yard confirmed that human remains found in an area of woodland in Ashford, Kent, two days earlier had been identified as Ms Everard.  

The heartbroken family of Miss Everard also yesterday paid tribute to the marketing executive, describing her as a ‘shining example to us all’.  

Speaking outside Scotland Yard, Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave said Miss Everard’s heartbroken family had been told this ‘most distressing news’.

He said: ‘As you know, on Wednesday evening detectives investigating the disappearance of Sarah Everard discovered a body secreted in woodland in Kent.

‘The body has now been recovered and formal identification procedure has now been undertaken. I can now confirm that it is the body of Sarah.’  

He said his ‘thoughts and prayers, and those of the entire organisation’ remain with Sarah Everard’s family ‘at this awful time’.

He added: ‘Specialist officers remain in constant contact with Sarah’s family, and will continue to support them throughout the investigation and beyond.

‘That investigation continues at a pace and we have hundreds of officers working round the clock to establish the full circumstances of Sarah’s disappearance, and her murder.’ 

In a statement released after the charge was confirmed tonight, the Metropolitan Police shared further employment information about Couzens in the name of ‘clarity’ in these ‘exceptional events’.

Couzens joined the force in September 2018, and was first posted to South Area where he joined a response team covering the Bromley area.  

He then moved to the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command last February, where his primary role was on uniformed patrol duties of Embassies.  

Detectives investigating Couzens were today combing a network of military tunnels in the White Cliffs of Dover which run underneath his family’s former garage.

Officers are also searching his home and garden in Deal and the woodland near Ashford where Sarah’s body was found on Wednesday.

Couzens was arrested at his home on Tuesday on suspicion of murder, kidnap and a separate allegation of indecent exposure towards another woman.

A woman in her 30s who was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender has been released on bail to return to a police station on a date in mid-April. 

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said his arrest on Tuesday had sent ‘waves of shock’ through the force.

She was today seen making reassurance patrols on Clapham Common, near to where Miss Everard vanished on March 3. 

Scotland Yard is facing an investigation by the police watchdog into its handling of separate allegations of indecent exposure against Couzens.

He was alleged to have twice exposed himself at a south London fast food restaurant on February 28, three days before Misss Everard went missing.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is to probe whether two officers ‘responded appropriately’ in their investigation. 

The Met said: ‘On 28 February the Met created a crime report in relation to two separate indecent exposure incidents at a fast food restaurant in south London. 

‘It would be inappropriate to comment further given the IOPC investigation.’

The incident is one of five complaints sent to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) by the Met. 

Scotland Yard and the IOPC are not commenting on whether officers attended the incident or spoke to Couzens, who continued to work as an armed marksman afterwards. 

The Met Police officer served in the territorial army in Kent in the 2000s before joining the police  and guarding embassies in London until his arrest on Tuesday.

Couzens served with the 3rd battalion, the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment reservists, from 2002 to 2004, which has its HQ in Canterbury, and is where he first handled guns. 

He is reported to have ‘excelled at a battalion-run driving course’ for both civilian and military vehicles and passed the course with ‘flying colours achieving Top Student status’.     

Ms Everard is thought to have walked through Clapham Common towards her house in Brixton ahead of her disappearance on March 3 – a journey which should have taken around 50 minutes.

Her death has prompted an outpouring of grief from the public, with many women and girls sharing stories online of experiencing violence by men.

It has led to the Home Office reopening a public consultation on how to tackle violence against women and girls, with officials considering a proposal for legislation to protect women against public sexual harassment.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: ‘My heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with Sarah, her family and friends at this unbearable time. Many women have shared their stories and concerns online since Sarah’s disappearance last week.

‘These are so powerful because each and every woman can relate.’

Following confirmation that human remains found in woodland on Wednesday are that of Miss Everard, footballer Marcus Rashford sent his well wishes to the family and called on men to ‘play a role’ in ensuring women feel safe.

Rashford said the news was ‘heartbreaking,’ adding: ‘I’m so sorry. This should have never happened.

‘Men we have a role to play. To listen, to protect, and to allow women to feel safe at whatever time of day. I have sisters, nieces… just horrible. I’m sending my love to Sarah’s family’. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury also lent his support to women who have suffered ‘the sin of male violence’ in a message of support for Miss Everard.

Justin Welby tweeted: ‘I am heartbroken for the family, partner and friends of Sarah Everard, and all those whose lives she touched. They are in my prayers.

‘May they know the suffering God alongside them in this unimaginable pain.

‘Testimony after testimony from women over recent days have shown us something we have known and ignored for far too long: the profound impact of the sin of male violence, intimidation, harassment, sexism and abuse carried out against women.

‘It is these sins – and the culture that perpetuates and condones them – that need our urgent repentance, our fervent prayer, and our resolute action as men.’

London Mayor Sadiq Khan added: ‘It is devastating news for Sarah Everard’s loved ones that the police have identified her body.

‘My deepest sympathies – and those of all Londoners – are with them.’

Miss Everard’s father Jeremy, 67, a professor of electronics at the University of York, and her mother Susan, 63, travelled down to London to help police in their search soon after Miss Everard went missing last Wednesday. 

In a statement they said: ‘Our beautiful daughter Sarah was taken from us and we are appealing for any information that will help to solve this terrible crime.

‘Sarah was bright and beautiful – a wonderful daughter and sister. She was kind and thoughtful, caring and dependable. She always put others first and had the most amazing sense of humour.

‘She was strong and principled and a shining example to us all. We are very proud of her and she brought so much joy to our lives.

‘We would like to thank our friends and family for all their support during this awful time and we would especially like to thank Sarah’s friends who are working tirelessly to help.’

Steve Lewis, Miss Everard’s head teacher at Fulford School, York, told The Times she was ‘popular and well-liked’ and a ‘lovely, bright, intelligent girl who shone within the school’.

She went on to achieve a 2:1 degree in geography at Durham University in 2008 and moved to London about 12 years ago to pursue her career in marketing.

She took a six-month break in 2013 to travel to South America, spending a month at the carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before travelling to Iguazu Falls and Buenos Aires, in Argentina.

She supported the Matthew Elvidge Trust, a mental health charity set up in memory of a student who took his own life in 2009.

Miss Everard had just started a new job and was in a relationship with Mr Lowth, a marketing director.