Police officer’s guilty plea to Everard kidnap and rape

A police officer has accepted responsibility for killing Sarah Everard, a court heard. PC Wayne Couzens, 48, appeared at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, when he pleaded guilty to the kidnap and rape of Sarah Everard. The court heard Couzens accepted responsibility for the killing of Ms Everard but was not asked to enter a plea to a charge of murder.

Everard, 33, went missing as she walked home from a friend’s house in Clapham, south London, on 3 March. Her body was found a week later in woodland in Kent. A postmortem found she had died from compression of the neck.

Her death prompted renewed debate about the harassment, abuse and violence women face in their daily lives. Vigils were held with the Metropolitan police heavily criticised for the way they manhandled women who had gathered on Clapham Common to mourn her death.

A further hearing is due to take place on 9 July.