Images show Sarah Everard with her killer moments before he abducted her, court hears
A police officer used COVID lockdown regulations to falsely arrest Sarah Everard before he kidnapped, raped and strangled her and then burned her body, a court has heard.
Wayne Couzens, 48, used handcuffs and his Metropolitan Police-issue warrant card to snatch his victim as she walked home from a friend’s house in Clapham, south London, on the evening of 3 March.
Images seen at the Old Bailey showed Ms Everard talking to her killer moments before he abducted her.
Couzens sentencing day one – as it happened
Sarah Everard and Wayne Couzens pictured moments before he abducted her in Clapham
Wayne Couzens and Sarah Everard before she was kidnapped, as he appears to hold something out to her
The firearms officer, who had finished a 12-hour shift at the US Embassy that morning, drove to a remote rural area northwest of Dover in Kent, where he parked up and raped Ms Everard.
The 33-year-old marketing executive, who lived in Brixton, south London, was strangled with Couzens’ police belt by 2.30am the following morning.
Couzens then burned her body in a refrigerator in an area of woodland he owned near Ashford, Kent, before dumping the remains in a nearby pond.
Days later, amid extensive publicity about Ms Everard’s disappearance, Couzens took his wife and children on a day out to the woods, allowing the youngsters to play close by.
Couzens was at the Old Bailey for a two-day sentencing hearing.
In other evidence, the court heard:
• Statements read by Ms Everard’s family, in which they said she had been “fly tipped… like she meant nothing”
• Evidence including a fragment of a SIM card and a blood stain in Couzens’ car linked him to the crimes
• The prosecution argued that the crime was so serious a whole life sentence should be considered
Sarah’s mum told the court her daughter wanted to marry and have children
Ms Everard’s family told the court about the “unbearable” suffering they have been through.
Her mother, Susan, said she was “repulsed” by Couzens and “outraged that he masqueraded as a policeman”, adding that Sarah had wanted to get married and have children.
Her father, Jeremy, said his daughter’s murder is on his mind “all the time”, while her sister Katie broke down in tears and said Couzens had “fly-tipped” Sarah “like she meant nothing”.
The crime involved “significant” planning and Ms Everard was alive for hours before being raped and murdered, prosecutor Tom Little QC said.
Sarah Everard at a supermarket in Brixton Hill on the day she was abducted
Sarah leaving the branch of Sainsbury’s at 6pm
The circumstances of the murder are so exceptional that it could warrant a whole life sentence, he added. Couzens, who was sacked by the Metropolitan Police after admitting murdering Ms Everard, is due to discover his jail sentence on Thursday.
Speaking during the first day of a two-day sentencing hearing, Mr Little said Couzens took his wife and two children on a family trip to Hoads Wood on 7 March, where only days earlier he had set fire to Ms Everard’s body.
En route, he withdrew cash from the same service station he had been to shortly after raping and murdering his victim, the court heard.
Mr Little said he “took his family on a family trip to the very woods where days earlier he had left Sarah Everard’s body, then returned to burn it and then returned again to move it and hide it”.
Couzens’ hire car in Clapham on the night he abducted Sarah Everard
Couzens pleaded guilty to the murder of Sarah Everard
Couzens allowed his children to play in “relatively close proximity to where Ms Everard’s body had been dumped in the pond”, he added.
He was arrested on 9 March and Ms Everard’s body was found the following a day – a week after she went missing.
Opening the hearing, Mr Little said Couzens’ crimes could be summarised in five words: “Deception, kidnap, rape, strangulation, fire.”
Ms Everard had had dinner with a friend in Clapham Junction and was on her way home to Brixton when she was “arrested” by Couzens during the third coronavirus lockdown.
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‘Sarah Everard was handcuffed before abduction’
Couzens, then a serving diplomatic protection officer, handcuffed her at about 9.34pm after showing her his warrant card, the court heard.
Mr Little said Couzens was familiar with coronavirus regulations and may have used lockdown rules to falsely detain Ms Everard.
She was described by a former long-term boyfriend as “extremely intelligent, savvy and streetwise” and “not a gullible person” who he could envisage getting into a car with a stranger “unless by force or manipulation”.
Couzens was said to be wearing his police belt with handcuffs and a rectangular black pouch, similar to a pepper spray holder, when he confronted Ms Everard.
He put her in the back of a Vauxhall Astra – hired using his own personal details and bank card – at around 9.37pm.
The married father-of-two set off for Kent, 80 miles away, a minute later. At around 11.30pm, Ms Everard was transferred from the hire car to Couzens’ own Seat car, which was left in a non-residential area of Dover.
Court sketch of prosecutor Tom Little QC speaking as former Metropolitan Police officer Couzens sits in the dock at the Old Bailey
Sarah Everard’s body was found in a woodland in Ashford, Kent – metres from land owned by Couzens
Couzens then drove to a remote rural area northwest of Dover where he parked up and raped Ms Everard, the court was told.
The Seat was picked up on an ANPR camera on a road in the town at 2.31am. “It is by this point that Sarah Everard is most likely to have been murdered,” Mr Little said.
The moment Couzens confronted Ms Everard in south London was caught on security footage and witnessed by a couple travelling in a car.
Ms Everard was a mile from home when cameras from two buses, a refuse lorry and a marked police car caught footage of Couzens talking to her by the car, which was parked on the pavement with its hazard lights on and doors open.
The female passenger in the other vehicle said she saw Couzens and Ms Everard standing on the pavement. She watched as Ms Everard was handcuffed, Mr Little told the court.
“Sarah Everard was compliant, with her head down and did not appear to be arguing,” he said.
Mr Little added that the female passenger believed she was witnessing an undercover police officer arresting a woman whom she assumed “must have done something wrong”.
Couzens at a branch of B&Q in Dover on 5 March, two days after be abducted Ms Everard
Police outside Couzens’ home in Freemens Way in Deal, Kent
She remarked to her husband that she had seen “a woman being handcuffed” when “they were in fact witnessing the kidnapping of Sarah Everard”, Mr Little said.
The next day, 4 March, Couzens took Ms Everard’s mobile phone and threw it into a river in Sandwich, Kent. A broken fragment of an EE sim card from the phone was later found in his Seat, the court heard.
In addition, a blood stain was found on a rear passenger seat which matched Ms Everard’s DNA, the court heard.
Semen which matched Couzens’ DNA was also found on the back seat, the hearing was told.
Couzens, who the court heard was thousands of pounds in debt, wiped his phone just minutes before he was arrested at his home in Deal on 9 March.
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In a video shown at the Old Bailey, Couzens was seen sitting on his sofa, with his hands in cuffs, being quizzed by police.
An officer repeatedly asked if Couzens knew where Ms Everard was, saying her “family and friends are worried about her”.
Couzens, who offered no resistance, initially denied knowing her, claiming he only knew of her disappearance from watching the news.
He then told detectives he was “in financial s***” and that he had been “leant on” by a gang to pick up girls after he tried to “rip off” a sex worker he had booked online.
The following day, a week after Ms Everard disappeared, her body was found in a stream in Ashford, Kent, just metres from land owned by Couzens.
Fragments of her clothing were found in nearby woodland, where her body had previously been burnt.
Sarah’s sister said she was the ‘very best person’
Mr Little said that while Couzens was in the wood he must have “moved Sarah Everard’s heavily burnt body from where he had set fire to it, to the pond where she was subsequently found” using bags he bought from B&Q on 5 March.
In July, Couzens pleaded guilty to Ms Everard’s murder, kidnap and rape via video link from jail.
Couzens told a psychiatrist he strangled Ms Everard with his police belt, which tallied with the conclusions of a post-mortem examination which found she died from compression of the neck.
While in custody, he deliberately hit his head on the toilet bowl in his cell, suffering a cut, shortly before he was about to be interviewed, the court heard.
An ambulance was called and he was taken to hospital for treatment, before being placed under constant supervision after returning to the police station.
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Couzens ‘should never have been near a uniform’
The court heard how Couzens would wear his police belt and handcuffs while off duty and had a profile on dating site Match.com in which he gave various false details about himself. He was also in contact with an escort through an escort service.
The police watchdog has received a string of referrals relating to the Couzens case, with 12 police officers being investigated.
A senior investigator on the Sarah Everard case, former DCI Simon Harding, told Sky News that police “do not view” Couzens as a fellow officer and that he “should never have been near a uniform”.
Speaking outside the Old Bailey in July, Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said she was “very sorry” for the loss, pain and suffering of the Everard family.
She said: “All of us in the Met are sickened, angered and devastated by this man’s truly dreadful crimes. Everyone in policing feels betrayed.”
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Sarah Everard was ‘handcuffed and powerless’
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it was looking at whether the Met failed to investigate two allegations of indecent exposure relating to Couzens in February, just days before the killing.
Kent Police is also being investigated over its response to a third allegation of indecent exposure dating back to 2015.
Ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, a spokesperson from the Metropolitan Police said: “We are sickened, angered and devastated by this man’s crimes which betray everything we stand for.
“Our thoughts are with Sarah’s family and her many friends. It is not possible for us to imagine what they are going through.
“We recognise his actions raise many questions and concerns but we will not be commenting further until the hearing is complete.”
Flight delays are expected as the UK sees more heavy fog.
It comes after 20,000 people were affected by airport disruption on Thursday, according to travel journalist Simon Calder.
“Temporary air traffic restrictions have been put in place due to fog causing poor visibility. Some flights may be delayed throughout the day,” a spokesperson for Gatwick Airport said.
“London Gatwick apologises for any inconvenience. Passengers should contact their airline for further information,” they added.
At Gatwick 35 departures scheduled up to 11am are delayed and 26 flight arrivals are delayed up to the same time. Two flights are cancelled. At Heathrow 20 flight departures scheduled to leave before 11am are delayed. At Manchester airport 16 arrivals are delayed up to 11am.
Speaking to Anna Jones on Sky News Breakfast about the disruption yesterday Mr Calder said: “We had at London City Airport, at London Heathrow, the busiest in Britain, at London Gatwick, the second busiest, more than 40 cancellations in and out from each of those airports.”
The thick fog will continue on Saturday according to the Met Office, with some areas seeing visibility reduced to just 100 metres.
Get the weather forecast where you are
The worst of the fog is forecast to hit the South East and central England, while East Anglia and parts of South Wales will also be affected.
Cars navigate foggy conditions on the M3 near Basingstoke on Friday.
Pic: PA
Forecasters have not issued any fog weather warnings yet but the Met Office said it will monitor the situation across the weekend.
Met Office meteorologist Liam Eslick said: “It’s that time of year when people are travelling around the country a lot and there are a lot of people on the roads.
“There is a lot of fog covering much of England, mainly the South East and central England, but the rest of the country is seeing quite a bit of thick fog too.
“It will be pretty murky on Saturday morning and there will still be fog patches that will take a little longer to clear.”
Meanwhile, there is a yellow warning in place for heavy rain in parts of Scotland for Monday and New Year’s Eve on Tuesday, leaving the start of 2025 “distinctly unsettled”.
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations could face “significant disruption” from rain, with organisers warning audiences to “prepare for all weather, wrap up warm and double-check with your travel operator for the latest updates.”
Fog at Half Moon Bay in Morecombe on Friday
The yellow warning could see as much as 140mm (5.5in) of rain in places, as other parts of the UK will likely see rain, wind and possibly even snow later on next week.
The Met Office added that “more warnings are likely to be issued”.
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At Heathrow, British Airways was forced to cancel a handful of flights due to fog on Friday, while others were delayed.
Flights at both Gatwick and Manchester Airport were disrupted, with delays of up to three hours at Gatwick, and some passengers were diverted to other airports.
“The diversions were absolutely extreme,” said Mr Calder. At Teesside Airport, flights were diverted to Newcastle, Aberdeen and even Dublin.
This could continue into the weekend if the misty weather persists.
A spokesperson for the UK’s main air traffic control provider Nats said it had implemented “temporary air traffic restrictions” at several airports on Friday due to the fog.
Can I get compensation if my flight is delayed?
If your flight is affected by the disruption, you won’t be able to get any cash back, according to Mr Calder, as “bad weather is beyond the airline’s control”.
“However, every airline that cancels a flight is obliged to find for its passengers an alternative flight as soon as possible,” he said.
While the fog likely won’t remain past the weekend, people should not hold out hope for sustained sunshine with wet and windy conditions expected for much of the country, the Met Office said.
Never wrestle with a pig. You get dirty. And besides, the pig likes it.
Looking at the festive ding-dong that’s broken out between Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage, you do wonder if the Tory leader should take on board this famous quote – because there was only ever going to be one winner from this spat.
The Reform UK leader has spent the thick end of three decades dragging his political opponents into fights that ultimately benefit his cause. This is no different.
What would have been a relatively low-key Christmas stunt has been elevated into literal front page news.
Reform UK insiders say that, in turn, is driving more people to the party and pushing up their member count further.
Nigel Farage has spent his career dragging opponents into fights. Pic: Reuters
Part of this is down to news editors grabbing on to any bit of politics that’s around during the quiet period between Christmas and New Year.
Why Badenoch and her team didn’t clock this and hold back will likely bewilder some in her party.
An argument the Tories should have swerved
What’s more, the Tory leader is also currently on the back foot regarding her central accusation that the Reform membership number is fake.
Reform agreed to show Sky News details of their account on NationBuilder – a platform that manages memberships and donations for many political parties.
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From September – Farage: I could become prime minister
The number of active memberships in the account portal matched the figure on the ticker – with their website count growing in size shortly after the NationBuilder tally increased.
Sky News also conducted its own analysis on the ticker and found nothing suspicious as it stands (read the full analysis here).
Kemi Badenoch has said Reform changed the coding when people began to point out the alleged discrepancy, but has yet to provide any evidence to back this up.
Either way, this is still an argument the Tories should probably have swerved.
All politicians need to pick their battles
Yes, signed-up members mean more income for a party, but they don’t necessarily translate into wider electoral success. After all, Labour’s membership surged under Jeremy Corbyn, but he still lost two elections.
But that’s not to say both main parties shouldn’t be looking very closely in their rearview mirror at Reform.
The party’s reaction to this row shows a far more professional behind-the-scenes operation than the previous, more ramshackle incarnations of the Farage-led political machine.
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Is Reform UK winning the ‘bro vote’?
Talk to long time allies of the Reform leader, and even they sound somewhat surprised by how slick their project has got.
They also point to electoral milestones on the horizon where the party’s results at the ballot box can be objectively tracked – beginning with May’s local elections next year and running through the Welsh Assembly vote in 2026.
There’ll be many more attempts by Nigel Farage to wrestle with his political opponents before then.
The task for the Tory and indeed Labour leaders is to pick their fights and judge how dirty they are prepared to get.
UK
Nigel Farage threatens legal action if Kemi Badenoch doesn’t apologise for saying membership ticker was ‘fake’
Nigel Farage has threatened to take legal action against Tory leader Kemi Badenoch if she does not apologise for accusing him of publishing a “fake” ticker showing Reform UK’s membership increasing to overtake the Conservatives.
The Reform UK leader has reacted furiously to Ms Badenoch’s assertion that he was “manipulating [his] own supporters” with a ticker that is “coded to tick up automatically” after it showed the insurgent right-wing party had gone past 131,680 members – the number of eligible Conservative Party members in its leadership election in the autumn.
He is demanding an apology from Ms Badenoch for the “accusations of fraud and dishonesty” that he labelled “disgraceful”, and said he is “not going to take it lying down”.
Asked by Sky News in a call with journalists if he is going to sue the Tory leader for libel, Mr Farage said: “I’m going to take some action in the next couple of days. I’ve got to decide exactly what it is, but I’m certainly not going to take it lying down.”
“I think it’s an absolutely outrageous thing for her to have said,” he continued. “I know she’s got a very bad temper. I know she’s well known for lashing out at people, but I am not at all happy, and I’m going to take some action.”
He added that he will confirm within two days exactly what this action will be if she does not apologise for the “intemperate outburst”.
Analysis: Badenoch needs to pick her battles
Reform showed Sky News the coding used to link the ticker to the member count within their account on the platform NationBuilder. The demonstration provided strong evidence that the ticker was not automated. Scroll down for the full analysis.
A Tory source told Sky News: “Fake Farage is clearly rattled that his Boxing Day Publicity Stunt is facing serious questions over a fake clock and hundreds of ‘members’ seemingly joining in the middle of the night.
“Like most normal people around the UK, Kemi is enjoying Christmas with her family and looking forward to taking on the challenges of renewing the Conservative Party in the New Year.”
‘It’s a fake’
The row started after Reform UK said on Boxing Day that it officially had more members than the Conservative Party, which Mr Farage, party leader and MP for Clacton-on-Sea, hailed as a “historic moment”, describing his party as “the real opposition”.
Reform UK also shared a video of the membership tracker being projected on to the Conservative Party headquarters in London.
But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused the party of issuing misleading figures: “Manipulating your own supporters at Xmas eh, Nigel?. It’s not real. It’s a fake… [the website has been] coded to tick up automatically.”
Posting on X, she added that the Tories had “gained thousands of new members since the leadership election”.
Reform UK hit back at Ms Badenoch, publishing a screenshot of an online register claiming to show “active memberships”.
Reform UK chair Zia Yusuf also waded into the row, claiming that people whose memberships of the Tory party had lapsed voted in the autumn leadership election that saw Ms Badenoch elected to the role.
In a call with journalists earlier, he repeated the assertion, and after putting out a call on social media for people to contact him if they had voted in the leadership election but are no longer party members, he said he has received “just so many” that he has not yet been able to verify their claims.
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Ms Badenoch and the Conservative Party have been contacted for comment.
Reform UK has said it will submit to an audit of its membership numbers by one of the “big four” accountancy firms if the Tories do the same.
Farage gets personal
Speaking to journalists earlier, Mr Farage was very critical of Ms Badenoch personally, saying her claim that their membership number ticker had been faked “reflects her personality”.
He labelled her “aggressive” and “liable to lashing out”, and said he thinks she wrote her tweet out of a “slight sense of anger”.
“She’s got to fully disprove this, and she’s going to find life a lot more difficult and bitterly regret putting this out on Boxing Day afternoon,” he added.
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