Murder of Sarah Everard

On the evening of 3 March 2021, 33-year-old Sarah Everard was kidnapped in South London, England, as she was walking home to the Brixton Hill area from a friend's house near Clapham Common. She was stopped by off-duty Metropolitan Police constable Wayne Couzens, who identified himself as a police officer and handcuffed her. He drove Everard to Kent, where he raped and strangled her before burning her body and disposing of her remains in a pond in woodland.

On 9 March, Couzens was arrested in Deal, first on suspicion of Everard's kidnapping, and then a day later on suspicion of her murder. Everard's remains were discovered in a densely wooded area near Ashford on 10 March; following their identification, Couzens was charged with her kidnapping and murder.

Vigils were held for Everard on the evening of 13 March. The vigil on Clapham Common, near where she had been kidnapped, led to a controversial police response and four arrests for breaches of COVID-19 regulations. The murder gave rise to widespread debate about the role of police in British society and women's safety in the UK.

On 8 June, Couzens pleaded guilty to Everard's kidnapping and rape. On 9 July, he pleaded guilty to her murder. On 30 September, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order.

A public inquiry chaired by Lady Elish Angiolini KC was commissioned to investigate how Couzens was permitted to serve as a police officer despite an extensive history of alleged sexual offences. The first part of the report, published in February 2024, found that Couzens had a history of alleged sexual offending and that failings in the vetting process allowed him to become a police officer.

Background

Sarah Everard

Sarah Everard was born in Surrey in 1987. She grew up in York, where she attended Fulford School. She studied Human Geography at St Cuthbert's Society, Durham University, from 2005 to 2008. At the time of her death, Everard lived in the Brixton Hill area and worked as a marketing executive for a digital media agency.

Wayne Couzens

Wayne Couzens was born in Dover, Kent, on 20 December 1972. He was educated at Castlemount School, and after taking GCSEs worked as a mechanic in his family's garage. He enlisted as a private with the Territorial Army in 2002, and over the following four years he unsuccessfully applied to become a police officer on three occasions. He was employed as a special constable with Kent Police in 2006, and was discharged from the Territorial Army the following year for failing to fulfil training obligations.

In late 2010, Couzens was vetted for recruitment to the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC). In early 2011 he resigned from Kent Police, and took up the role of an authorised firearms officer with the CNC. He transferred to the Metropolitan Police Service (Met) in September 2018, working as a police constable and firearms officer. In February 2020, Couzens was assigned to the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection (PaDP) branch, the division responsible for uniformed protection of government and diplomatic premises. Couzens had not undergone enhanced vetting as part of his recruitment, nor had he gone through the mandatory two-year probation period with the Met before joining PaDP.

Incident and investigation

On 28 February 2021, Couzens booked a white Vauxhall Crossland from a vehicle hire company in Dover. At 07:00 GMT on 3 March, he completed a 12-hour shift at the US Embassy in London before travelling to Kent to collect the hire car. He then drove back to London where he was recorded as being in Earl's Court and on Battersea Bridge. After arriving in Clapham, he again drove to Earl's Court before returning to Clapham at 21:23.

At around 21:00, Everard left a friend's house on Leathwaite Road near Clapham Junction, west of Clapham Common. She walked along the A205 South Circular Road across the common en route to her Brixton Hill home. She spoke to her boyfriend on her phone for about 15 minutes and agreed to meet him the next day. At 21:28, she was seen on doorbell camera footage on Poynders Road and four minutes later on the dashcam of a passing police car.

At 21:34, Couzens, who had parked the Vauxhall on the pavement outside Poynders Court, stopped Everard and showed her his police warrant card before handcuffing her. The trial judge later said that he had probably claimed that he was arresting her for having breached COVID guidelines. Couzens and Everard were twice captured by bus CCTV; the first instance at 21:35 showed them beside the hired Vauxhall and the second, at 21:38, showed the Vauxhall's number plate. Around this time, Couzens and Everard entered the car and Couzens drove to Kent; the route of the car was retrospectively tracked using CCTV and ANPR.

By 23:43, Couzens and Everard were in Dover and had transferred to Couzens's personal SEAT car. Between 23:53 and 00:57 on 4 March, Couzens's mobile phone connected to cell sites in the Shepherdswell area; it is believed that he raped Everard at some point between midnight and 01:45. At 02:34, Couzens purchased drinks from a Dover petrol station; it is likely that he had strangled Everard using his police duty belt by this time. Couzens then drove to Hoad's Wood near Ashford, where he owned a plot of land. His car was captured on CCTV in the area between 03:22 and 06:32 before driving back to Dover to switch back into his rental car before returning it at 08:26. After Couzens returned the hire car, he drove his personal car to Sandwich, Kent, disposing of Everard's mobile phone in one of the town's watercourses at 09:21. Later that day, Everard's boyfriend contacted the police after she did not meet him.

In the days after the murder, Couzens told senior colleagues that he was suffering from stress and no longer wanted to carry a gun. On 5 March, shortly after 11:00, Couzens bought and filled a petrol container at a service station in Whitfield. He then returned to Hoad's Wood, where his car was captured on CCTV at 12:37, and burned Everard's body inside a refrigerator. At 13:47 he bought two large builder's bags from B&Q before returning to Hoad's Wood on 7 March, where he used one of the bags to dispose of Everard's remains in a pond. On 8 March, he reported himself ill from work, handing in his equipment including his police belt and handcuffs.

At 16:20 on 10 March, police searching Hoad's Wood found human remains in a large builder's bag, approximately 100 metres (110 yd) from Couzens's plot. Police in Dover also searched the site of a former body repair garage, previously owned by Couzens's family, at the top of the White Cliffs. On 12 March, Everard's body was identified through dental records. Two days later, police focused a search operation around The Rope Walk in Sandwich, and cordoned off approximately 1 square mile (2.6 km²) of the town. On 16 March, police continued to comb woodland in Kent and police divers in Sandwich searched underwater for Everard's mobile phone.

Everard's funeral took place on 22 May at Heslington Church in Heslington, near York.

The results of a post-mortem held at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford were released on 1 June. It concluded that Everard had died from compression of the neck.

Legal proceedings

Arrest of Wayne Couzens

On 9 March 2021, Couzens was arrested at his home in Deal on suspicion of kidnapping. Police arrived at his house at 17:45 and arrested Couzens at 19:47. Around 40 minutes before he was arrested, Couzens tried to wipe the data from his mobile phone. When interviewed, he claimed initially not to recognise Everard after being shown a photograph of her. He then claimed to be having financial problems after paying for sex in Folkestone, and that a gang of Eastern Europeans had threatened him and his family, demanding he deliver "another girl" after underpaying a prostitute a few weeks before. A woman in her thirties was also arrested at the address on suspicion of assisting an offender but subsequently released without charge.

On 10 March, the day Everard's remains were discovered, Couzens was re-arrested on suspicion of murder. On 11 March, Couzens was hospitalised following a head injury sustained in custody; he was again briefly hospitalised the following day after a similar injury. After the incident on 11 March, police said the injury was sustained while he was alone in his cell.

Couzens was charged with Everard's kidnapping and murder on 12 March, following authorisation from the Crown Prosecution Service. He appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 13 March and was remanded in custody before appearing at the Old Bailey via video link from Belmarsh Prison on 16 March.

Guilty plea

On 8 June 2021, Couzens pleaded guilty to kidnap and rape, and admitted responsibility for Everard's death. Pending medical reports into his mental health at the time of Everard's death, Couzens did not enter a plea on the charge of murder.