HUMAN remains found in Kent have been confirmed as the body of missing Sarah Everard.
The 33-year-old had been walking home from Clapham last week when she vanished – with the Met Police confirming they had now launched a murder investigation upon confirmation of the body.
The grim confirmation comes as armed cop Wayne Couzens was arrested over an alleged sex offence in McDonald's that took on Sunday 28 February – just three days before Sarah vanished.
And this afternoon it was revealed that he is suspected of exposing himself a second time at the same McDonald's on the same day – with both alleged incidents believed to have been caught on CCTV.
The police watchdog is now investigating whether officers responded "appropriately" to the report, as it meant Couzens was was still working as a gun cop for three days and free to allegedly snatch Sarah on March 3.
Last night PC Couzens, 48, was rushed to hospital with serious head injuries after being found collapsed in his cell, The Sun has exclusively revealed.
He is currently being held at Wandsworth police station on suspicion of Sarah's abduction and murder and nobody else is believed to be involved in the head injuries he suffered.
Today detectives probing Sarah's disappearance have been searching a maze of tunnels near Couzen's former family garage.
Teams of cops have been carrying out a major search on the cliffs of Dover, scouring miles of tunnels and old military fortifications for clues.
Police don't believe the elite protection officer had ever met Sarah, 33, previously with her disappearance being treated as a "stranger attack", police sources have told The Times.
Sarah vanished last week after last being seen in south London, with human remains found on Wednesday in woodland in Ashford, Kent.
Follow our live blog below for the latest developments in the case…
- Katie Davis
PM SAYS 'NO WOMAN SHOULD WALK OUR STREETS IN FEAR'
Boris Johnson today declared the country is "united in grief" over the murder of Sarah Everard as he vowed: "No woman should walk our streets in fear".
The PM said he was "shocked and appalled" by the news that a police have identified a body found in Kent woodlands as the missing 33-year-old.
Speaking during a visit to Northern Ireland, he said: "I'm shocked and appalled about the news from the Met about Sarah Everard.
"I think that the whole country will be united in feeling for her friends, family, and will share their shock and their grief. I can totally understand why this has triggered such a wave of feeling on this issue, in the issue of the safety of women, and safety of the streets.
"No woman should walk our streets in fear, every woman should feel able to walk our streets in safety."
- Katie Davis
ANOTHER WOMAN SAYS SHE WAS TARGETED ON THE SAME NIGHT AS SARAH
A woman has today claimed she was targeted on the same night and in the same area that Sarah Everard vanished.
The woman revealed she felt a “creeping sickness in my stomach” after seeing missing posters for Sarah.
Writing in the Evening Standard, the unnamed woman said she had been let shaken after realising the 33-year-old had disappeared on the same night she was sexually assaulted nearby – since reporting the incident to police.
She wrote: “Whether or not it was helpful in their investigations, or was linked to Sarah’s disappearance, I do not know.
“But what it does tell me is that on one evening, in one small residential corner of a city, more than one woman was targeted by an attacker.”
- Katie Davis
LEGAL CHALLENGE TO POLICE'S DECISION TO STOP VIGIL
A legal challenge to the Metropolitan Police's decision to stop a planned vigil following the death of Sarah Everard has begun at the High Court.
The High Court is deciding whether "Covid-secure vigils" to remember Sarah and other women lost to violence can go ahead tomorrow.
Reclaim These Streets organisers launched a legal battle to hold the vigils after cops declared them unlawful during the UK's pandemic lockdown.
Sarah Everard's vigil is due to take place at 6pm on Saturday, March 13.
A website says that Reclaim These Streets "is organised by a group of women who wanted to channel the collective grief, outrage and sadness in our community. Our plan is to hold a short gathering on Clapham Common, centred around a minute of silence to remember Sarah Everard and all women lost to violence."
- Katie Davis
WHEN DID SARAH GO MISSING?
Sarah was last seen walking alone on a doorbell camera at 9.30pm in Clapham, South West London, on Wednesday, March 3.
Sarah, dressed in a bright green mac, had left a friend’s home half an hour earlier for the 50-minute walk back to her flat in Brixton.
Her kidnapper is said to have bundled Sarah into a hire car out of view of cameras.
- Katie Davis
MET OFFICERS BEING INVESTIGATED OVER ALLEGED FAILURE TO ACT ON INDECENT EXPOSURE REPORT
Two Met officers are being investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct over an alleged failure to act on the report of the indecent exposure on Sunday February 28.
The watchdog said: “Our investigation will look at the actions of the MPS after police received a report on 28 February that a man had exposed himself at a fast food restaurant in South London.”
Experts say that had Pc Couzens been questioned and arrested over the alleged sex offence, he would automatically have had his firearms licence revoked and been suspended from duty.
The cop, attached to the Met’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection branch, was working at the US Embassy in Nine Elms, South London, when he allegedly abducted Sarah on Wednesday, March 3.
- Katie Davis
COPS HAD REG OF CAR DRIVEN BY MCDONALD'S FLASHER
Police had details of a car allegedly being driven by the man suspected of flashing at staff in a McDonald’s restaurant three days before the murder of Sarah Everard.
Eyewitnesses at the burger bar in South London took details of the vehicle allegedly used by a man who flashed at staff before running off.
Police believe the flashing incident took place three days before Sarah was snatched from the street as she walked home.
Cops were given CCTV from the incident by staff along with a description and registration of the car being driven by the suspect, a source said today.
However, no action appears to have been taken by police. It is understood police simply did not had time to investigate the incident.
- Katie Davis
'INAPPROPRIATE TO COMMENT FURTHER' ON EXPOSURE ALLEGATIONS, MET SAYS
Gun cop Wayne Couzens – suspected of kidnapping of murdering Sarah Everard – has been linked to two reports of indecent exposure at a McDonald's restaurant.
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."
- Katie Davis
COP SUSPECT 'EXPOSED HIMSELF TWICE IN MCDONALD'S' DAYS BEFORE SARAH VANISHED
The cop being quizzed over the suspected murder and kidnap of Sarah Everard has been linked TWO flashing reports at McDonald's in south London, it was reported today.
The police watchdog is now investigating whether officers responded "appropriately" to a report linked to Wayne Couzens, 48, three days before Sarah, 33, disappeared.
Met Police today confirmed they were investigating two separate indecent exposure incidents at a fast food restaurant.
Both allegedly occurred on the Sunday at the same fast food restaurant, and are believed to have been caught on CCTV.
A source today told The Standard: "It’s definitely not that police did nothing about the indecent exposure or that they turned a blind eye to a crime by a colleague. But the question will be whether the case was progressed quickly enough."
- Katie Davis
'SARAH WAS STRONG AND PRINCIPLED'
The family of Sarah Everard have paid tribute to their “bright and beautiful daughter and sister”.
In a statement, the family 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. We are so grateful to the police and would like to thank them for all they are doing. We are now pleading for additional help from the public.
“Please come forward and speak to the police if you have any information. No piece of information is too insignificant. Thank you.”
- Katie Davis
PRITI PATEL: ‘I’LL DO ALL I CAN TO PROTECT WOMEN’
Home Secretary Priti Patel has vowed to do “all she can” to protect women and girls following the disappearance of Sarah Everard.
Writing in the Sun, Ms Patel said: “While an awful incident like this is incredibly rare, I know it is worrying.
“Because it has reminded women everywhere of the steps we all take on a daily basis, without a second thought, to keep ourselves safe.
“Sadly, the accounts shared online by hundreds of people in the wake of Sarah’s terrible disappearance are so powerful because we can all relate to them.
“Too many of us have walked home from school or work alone, only to hear footsteps uncomfortably close behind. Too many of us have pretended to be on the phone to a friend to scare someone off. Too many of us have clutched our keys in our fists in case we need to defend ourselves. And that is not OK.”
- Katie Davis
'CURFEW SUGGESTION WASN'T ENTIRELY SERIOUS'
In the wake of Sarah Everard's disappearance, Baroness Jenny Jones told the House of Lords a night-time curfew for men would "make women a lot safer". She suggested that men should be banned from streets in the UK after 6pm.
The peer today admitted her curfew suggestion wasn't "entirely serious, as I don't have the power to do that", but welcomed any "intense scrutiny".
Claire Sheppard, Green Party candidate for Lambeth & Southwark, clarified: "Of course it’s not Green Party policy that we want men curfewed at 6pm.
"The good Baroness was pointing out that conversely women are told to stay home modify their behaviour all the time.
"The fact is many men can only see how daft that is when it’s them asked to do it."
- Katie Davis
ABOUT SARAH EVERARD
Sarah, 33, had been living in Brixton, South London, and had recently started a new job as a marketing executive.
She had moved to the capital about 12 years ago after gaining a 2:1 in her geography degree at Durham University.
Sarah had found love with boyfriend, marketing director Josh Lowth, 33, whom she had spent 15 minutes talking to on the phone moments before her disappearance last Wednesday.
Sarah, one of three children, grew up in York and attended Fulford School.
Her father Jeremy, a professor of electronics at the University of York, and charity worker mother Sue are believed to have travelled to London from their home in York after Sarah disappeared.
- Katie Davis
‘WE SHOULDN’T HAVE TO ADAPT OUR BEHAVIOUR’
Fabulous writer Hana Carter says women should not have to adapt their behaviour.
She wrote: “My argument is women should not have to carry weapons to protect themselves against men.
“We shouldn’t have to plan our route meticulously, we should be able to listen to music as loud as we like when we walk. We should be able to walk along any stretch of road, path, park, or even dirt track unaccompanied without feeling scared.
“We should be able to wear whatever clothing we like, without the length of skirt being used as a criticism against us.”
Read more here
- Katie Davis
POLICE DON’T BELIEVE SARAH HAD MET SUSPECT BEFORE
Police don’t believe the suspect – elite protection officer Wayne Couzens – had ever met Sarah, 33, previously with her disappearance being treated as a “stranger attack”, police sources have told The Times.
A source said: “The working hypothesis is that the attacker saw Sarah on the street for the first time and kidnapped her.”
Sarah vanished last week after last being seen in south London, with human remains found on Wednesday in woodland in Ashford, Kent.
Today, it was confirmed by police that the body is that of Sarah Everard.
- Katie Davis
TIMELINE OF SARAH’S DISAPPEARANCE – PART 3
March 10, evening – Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick confirmed detectives discovered human remains in the woods in Ashford, Kent. The remains are yet to be officially identified however Sarah’s family were notified of the tragic find.
March 11 – Met PC Wayne Couzens was found collapsed in his cell after suffering serious head wounds and was taken to hospital. The Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards are thought to be investigating the incident.
March 12 – Body found hidden in woodland in Kent identified as that of Sarah Everard, police confirmed. Speaking to reporters outside Scotland Yard, Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave said Met Police were determined to get justice for Sarah after finding the body hidden in woodlands in Ashford, Kent.
He said today: "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 Everard."
- Katie Davis
TIMELINE OF SARAH’S DISAPPEARANCE – PART 2
March 8 – Scotland Yard says it remains “open minded as to all possibilities” over Ms Everard’s disappearance, while confirming a missing persons investigation. Specialist officers are drafted in from across the Metropolitan Police force.
March 9 – Police use sniffer dogs to search gardens in streets around the search site near Ms Everard’s envisaged route home and in the nearby Oaklands Estate. Officers also search a pond in Clapham Common and drains along the A205. Cordon set up around the Poynders Court housing complex on Poynders Road as part of the search, with forensics officers seen examining the area.
March 9, evening – The Met tweets that it has arrested a police officer at an address in Kent in connection with Ms Everard’s disappearance. Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave says the fact the man is a serving police officer “is both shocking and deeply disturbing”. The Met says a woman has also been arrested at the same location on suspicion of assisting an offender.
March 10 – Met Police confirmed a man in his 40s was arrested on suspicion of kidnap. They later said he had been arrested on suspicion of murder and a separate allegation of indecent exposure. Dad-of-two Wayne Couzens, 48, was revealed by the Sun as the serving cop who had been arrested.
- Katie Davis
TIMELINE OF SARAH’S DISAPPEARANCE – PART 1
February 28 – A man is alleged to have exposed himself to female staff at the take away on February 28. The incident is said to have been captured on CCTV. Staff reported it to police on the night. However, no action was taken in connection over the alleged incident.
March 3 – Sarah left a friend’s house in Clapham, south London, about 9pm. Then about 9.30pm, she was spotted on CCTV walking alone on the A205 Poynders Road, from the junction with Cavendish Road, in the direction of Tulse Hill. She should have arrived at her Brixton home about 50 minutes after leaving Clapham but cops said it was unclear if she ever made it.
March 6 – Metropolitan Police raise the alarm over Ms Everard’s disappearance, saying it was “totally out of character” for her not to be in contact with family and friends. Friends and family start to share posters appealing for anyone with information to come forward.
March 7 – Police release footage taken from a private doorbell-type camera showing Ms Everard was walking alone along the A205 Poynders Road towards Tulse Hill, just south of Brixton. Scotland Yard says the investigation is being led by its Specialist Crime Command because of the “complex nature” of the probe, which combines searches with house-to-house inquiries.
- Joseph Gamp
POLICE ACCUSED OF FAILING TO ACT AND ARREST COUZENS OVER ALLEGATIONS OF INDECENT EXPOSURE
It comes after it has been claimed police failed to act and arrest Couzens over the accusation of indecent exposure at the fast food take away in South London on February 28.
It meant he was still working as a gun cop for three days and free to allegedly snatch 33-year-old Sarah on March 3.
A source today told The Standard: "It’s definitely not that police did nothing about the indecent exposure or that they turned a blind eye to a crime by a colleague. But the question will be whether the case was progressed quickly enough."
Marketing executive Sarah was walking home from Clapham on Wednesday last week when she vanished.
And Assistant Commissioner Ephgrave said he understood the concerns about the safety of women in London – saying the Met were committed to protecting Londoners.
- Joseph Gamp
MET ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER SAYS 'THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS' OF 'ENTIRE ORGANISATION' WITH SARAH'S FAMILY
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave 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."
- Joseph Gamp
MET FACES WATCHDOG PROBE OVER INDECENT EXPOSURE REPORT
Scotland Yard is facing an investigation by the police watchdog into its handling of an allegation of indecent exposure involving the suspect in the Sarah Everard case.
The Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) is to probe whether officers "responded appropriately" after receiving a report that a man had exposed himself at a fast food restaurant in south London on February 28 – three days before the 33-year-old went missing.
A serving police officer remains in custody after being detained on suspicion of Ms Everard's murder and kidnap, and a separate allegation of indecent exposure. Police have been granted more time to question him.
The IOPC said in a statement: "The Independent Office for Police Conduct has started an independent investigation into whether Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officers responded appropriately to a report of indecent exposure.
"The IOPC's investigation follows a conduct referral from the MPS in relation to two officers, received last night (Wednesday), which is linked to four other referrals. They are all connected to the arrest of a serving MPS officer on suspicion of kidnap, murder and a separate allegation of indecent exposure."
- Joseph Gamp
WATCH ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF MET POLICE CONFIRMS THE BODY OF SARAH EVERARD HAS BEEN FOUND
Assistant Commissioner of Met Police confirms the body of Sarah Everard has been found
- Joseph Gamp
SARAH EVERARD: WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR
- Sarah Everard disappeared while walking home to Brixton from Clapham last week
- Sarah's family said the 33-year-old was a "kind and beautiful" woman
- Remains were found in Ashford, Kent, during the hunt for the marketing executive
- Wayne Couzens, 48, was taken to hospital with head injuries after being taken into custody
- The suspect was linked to an alleged sex offence three days before Sarah disappeared
- Organisers of a vigil for Sarah Everard have been left furious after the Met Police threatened them with fines under Covid rules
- CCTV from a London bus has helped cops in their investigations, it was reported
SARAH EVERARD'S FAMILY WERE INFORMED OF 'DISTRESSING NEWS'
Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave said that Sarah Everard's family had been told this "most distressing news".
The Metropolitan Police officer accused of her murder remains in custody, he added.
ASSISTANT MET POLICE COMMISONER CONFIRMS REMAINS ARE THAT OF MISSING SARAH EVERARD
Speaking to reporters outside Scotland Yard, Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave said the body found in woodland in Kent was that of Sarah Everard.
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 Everard."
SARAH EVERARD BODY (CONTINUED)
Police said on Wednesday that human remains had been found in a wooded area near Ashford.
She was last seen leaving a friend's house on Leathwaite Road in Clapham, southwest London, at about 9pm on 3 March to walk to her home in Brixton.Advertisement
The arrested officer, who was off duty at the time of Ms Everard's disappearance, is also being held on a separate allegation of indecent exposure.
Source: Read Full Article
