Killer cop strangled Sarah Everard with his 'police belt': Wayne Couzens used Covid laws to stop, handcuff and 'arrest' marketing executive, 33, after prowling central London for lone woman - before he raped and murdered victim in Kent woods, court hears
Killer policeman Wayne Couzens used Covid laws to stop, handcuff and stage the fake arrest of Sarah Everard before strangling her 'with his police belt', the Old Bailey heard today - as it emerged he had spent hours prowling the streets of Central London looking for a lone woman to attack.
Couzens, 48, cuffed the 33-year-old marketing executive's hands behind her back, leaving her incapable of undoing the seatbelt he strapped around her after ordering her into the back of his rental car.
As the depraved killer watched in the Old Bailey with his head bowed, Miss Everard's family heard in horrific detail how the marketing executive spent her final hours before the serving Metropolitan Police officer raped and murdered her, and then burned her body in a pre-meditated attack that was weeks in the planning.
It coincided with a string of increasingly depraved behaviour which saw the married father-of-two flashing two women in McDonald's across two separate incidents.
The court heard in chilling evidence how earlier on the night Miss Everard was abducted her killer - who was 'attracted to brutal pornography' had spent two hours driving through central and south London - prowling Kensington, Lavender Hill and Earls Court for a lone young woman to abduct.
Witnesses later described how Miss Everard - who had spent the evening at a friend's house sharing a bottle of wine - appeared 'compliant' with her 'head down' as the 'confident-looking' officer made what seemed to be a late-night arrest at the height of lockdown in March.
Couzens, who had lied to his family that he was working a night shift that evening, then drove his victim 80 miles to a remote stretch of road in his home county of Kent. It was here that he forcibly moved Miss Everard into his own Seat vehicle.
Miss Everard's devastated family listened from the public gallery as the Old Bailey heard harrowing details of how Couzens took her to a rural area and raped her, before later being seen buying Lucozade and other drinks from BP station with her body in boot, after she was believed to have been murdered.
Distressing details of the timeline suggest Miss Everard could have been alive for more than four hours in the back of Couzens’ car. She was snatched off the street by 9.30pm and when the killer pulled into the garage at 2.30am, Sarah is thought to have been in his boot, already dead.
The court heard he confessed to a psychiatrist that he had strangled Miss Everard with his belt, and the prosecution said her injuries were consistent with ones that would have been caused by his police belt.
Couzens - who had prepared for the abduction by buying a rental car and a sheet of film from Amazon - hid her body inside a fridge in a patch of rubbish-strewn woodland before torching it.
The father-of-two then took his wife and children on a family trip to those same woods just days later and allowed the youngsters to play near a pond where he had dumped her remains, the prosecution said.
Quizzed by police, he lied that he had been 'leant on' by an Eastern European gang who threatened to harm his family if he did not agree to pick up a woman and hand her over to the occupants of a van near Maidstone.
Taken to Wandsworth Police Station, he repeatedly tried to self-harm by banging his head on a sink and running into a wall, and was put under constant watch before appearing in court.
Today, Miss Everard's family and friends gave victim impact statements to the Old Bailey. Her father, Jeremy Everard, demanded Couzens look at him while he was giving his testimony.
The Old Bailey heard horrific details of the serving police officer's deceit and Sarah's final hours before she was raped, murdered and burned in a pre-meditated attack that was weeks in the planning:
- Prosecution say five words summarise what PC Wayne Couzens did to Sarah Everard: 'Deception, kidnap, rape, strangulation, fire';
- Friends in Deal said Couzens was regularly seen wearing his police belt with handcuffs and pepper spray, when not on duty, and he lied that he was an undercover police officer;
- In December 2020 he joined Match.com and said he had no wife and children. He also signed up to an escort agency;
- In January 2021, Couzens worked on COVID patrols and 'used this knowledge' to kidnap his victim, who he stopped after doing laps of west and south-west London on the night of March 3, 2021;
- On February 10 he bought a 'police standard issue handcuff key with double locking pin' from Amazon, which he used on his police-issue cuffs to detain Sarah Everard and force her into his hire car;
- On February 28, Couzens booked a hire car online from Enterprise and ordered a 100m roll of carpet protector film from Amazon, used to line the boot where he eventually kept Sarah's body;
- He had told his wife that he was working a night shift when he grabbed Sarah - in fact he was off duty and cruising the streets looking for a victim;
- A couple driving past witnessed the kidnapping. Couzens using his warrant card and handcuffs to make a false arrest. 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. He bragged it was 'perfect for day trips' - but it's where he burned Sarah's body and dumped it in bags in shallow water;
- Couzens took his family on a trip to the woods where he burned Miss Everard's body - allowing his children to play near where it was dumped;
- Phoned vet to arrange for an appointment to see his dog and handed in his Met Police firearms licence;
- Lied about being forced to 'pick up a girl' by an Eastern European gang who threatened his family;
- Admits to killing her with his belt - with prosecution saying injuries were consistent with his police belt;
- Couzens repeatedly self-harmed in his cell, as police divers found Miss Everard's phone in the River Stour;
- Miss Everard's father demanded killer 'look me in the face', mother said she was 'haunted' by murder and sister called Couzens 'a monster';
- Court also heard how Couzens was 'attracted to brutal sexual pornography'
Wayne Couzens (left, in his uniform with his police belt circled); and right, in a court sketch) kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard in depraved crime after he had finished his shift
Miss Everard's disappearance sparked a huge manhunt and led to an outpouring of anger about the safety of women on the streets
CCTV footage of Miss Everard captured earlier on the night she was kidnapped in March, sparking a nationwide hunt
Susan Everard (right), Miss Everard's mother, reading a victim impact statement as Couzens sits in the dock
Ms Everard's father Jeremy ordered Couzens to look at him as he pointed at him and told him 'I can never forgive you'
Police search woodland near to where Miss Everard's body was found. Couzens burned her body and dumped it in a pond
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