UK POLICE OFFICER SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR MURDER, RAPE OF SARAH EVERARD

Thu 30 September 2021:

A British court has sentenced the cop who kidnapped, raped, and murdered Sarah Everard to life in life in prison without parole.

Everard was abducted on March 3 while heading home from a friend’s house in south London by Wayne Couzens, 48. He has admitted to murder, rape, and kidnapping.

Couzens, who was a member of the Metropolitan Police (MET) service’s elite diplomatic protection section at the time of Everard’s murder, was sentenced to life in jail on Thursday at London’s Central Criminal Court.

Reading the sentence, Justice Adrian Fulford described the circumstances of the murder as “grotesque” and said Couzens had demonstrated “no evidence of genuine contrition”.

He said the seriousness of the case was so “exceptionally high” that it warranted a whole life order, the most severe punishment available in the UK.

BRITISH POLICE OFFICER CHARGED WITH SARAH EVERARD’S MURDER

Fulford said Couzens, who was present in court on Thursday, had gone “hunting a lone female to kidnap and rape” on the evening of Everard’s abduction having plotted his crime in “unspeakably” grim detail beforehand.

“The defendant had planned well in advance … what was to occur and when he encountered Sarah Everard all that was missing up to that point was his victim,” he added.

Members of Everard’s family attended the court sessions.

On Wednesday, they spoke of the impact of her death.

“No punishment that you receive will ever compare to the pain and torture that you have inflicted on us,” her father, Jeremy, told the court.

Her mother, Susan, said she was “tormented” by her thoughts.

“I am repulsed by the thought of Wayne Couzens and what he did to Sarah. I am outraged that he masqueraded as a policeman in order to get what he wanted,” she told the court.

“Her death leaves a yawning chasm in our lives that cannot be filled.”

Everard’s story sparked a national debate about women’s safety, with women sharing their own experiences and worries of being out alone at night.

Questions about how police departments vet their officers have shattered public trust in law enforcement.

The MET has been chastised for failing to protect women and girls, while the legal system has been accused of failing to investigate sexual abuse complaints.

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