Sarah Everard trial: PC Wayne Couzens pleads guilty to rape and kidnap of London woman
PC WAYNE COUZENS has pleaded guilty to the rape and kidnap of 33-year-old Sarah Everard.
Sarah Everard: Wayne Couzens pleads guilty for murder
The serving UK police officer pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey this morning. The 48-year-old officer also accepted responsibility for killing Ms Everard but did not enter a plea to a charge of murder, as medical reports are still being prepared. The death of Ms Everard sparked anger across the UK and prompted a series of protests and questions about what police, Government and society can do to stop male violence against women.
Mr Couzens appeared via video link from Belmarsh prison this morning, wearing khaki trousers and a grey sweatshirt.
He pleaded guilty to kidnapping Ms Everard "unlawfully and by force or fraud" on March 3.
He also pleaded guilty to a second charge of rape between March 2 and 10.
Mr Couzens was not asked to enter a plea to her murder between March 2 and 10.
The defendant said "guilty, sir" when asked for his plea to the first two charges.
The court heard that responsibility for the killing was admitted but medical reports were awaited.
Members of Ms Everard's family sat in court to witness the defendant enter his pleas.
A further hearing before Lord Justice Fulford is due to take place on July 9.
JUST IN: Supertrawlers & fishing boats plundering UK waters targeted in new operation
Ms Everard, a marketing executive, went missing on March 3, 2021, as she walked home from a friend's house in Clapham, south London.
She left her friend's flat at about 9pm and is thought to have walked through Clapham Common as she made her way home to Brixton.
The journey should have taken about 50 minutes.
Her disappearance triggered a major police investigation, involving hundreds of officers, in which detectives scoured CCTV, video doorbell and bus camera footage for any clue as to what might have happened to her.
Her body was found a week later in woodland in Ashford, Kent, over 50 miles away from where she first went missing.
Mr Couzens, who served in the force's Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, was charged with the kidnap and murder of Ms Everard on March 12, having first been arrested on suspicion of kidnap on Tuesday, March 9.
A post-mortem concluded earlier this month that she had died as a result of compression of the neck.