8 Jun 2021

Sarah Everard: UK police officer admits rape and kidnap

9:59 pm on 8 June 2021

A Met Police officer has admitted kidnapping and raping Sarah Everard.

Sarah Everard had been walking to her home in Brixton when she disappeared.

Sarah Everard had been walking to her home in Brixton on the night she disappeared. Photo: AFP / Metropolitan Police

The 33-year-old vanished as she walked home in Clapham, south London, on 3 March. Her body was found a week later in woodland near Ashford, Kent.

Appearing at the Old Bailey via video-link, PC Wayne Couzens, of Deal, pleaded guilty both to kidnap and rape.

The court heard he also accepted responsibility for Everard's death but did not enter a plea on the charge of murder.

Marketing executive Everard had been walking to her home in Brixton on the night she disappeared.

She was reported missing by her boyfriend on 4 March and her body was discovered hidden in an area of woodland on 10 March.

Couzens was wearing khaki trousers and a grey sweatshirt as he appeared by video link from Belmarsh jail.

He pleaded guilty to kidnapping Everard "unlawfully and by force or fraud" on 3 March.

He also pleaded guilty to a second charge of rape between 2 and 10 March.

- BBC

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