Met Police officer Wayne Couzens has pleaded guilty to the murder of Sarah Everard…reports Asian Lite News.
Couzens, 48, will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on 29 September, the BBC reported.
The firearms officer snatched her as she walked home from a friend’s house in Clapham on 3 March, driving her away in a car he had hired.
The 33-year-old’s body was found a week later in woodland near Ashford, Kent, metres from land owned by Couzens. She had been raped and strangled, according to the report.
Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, was last seen on March 3 in the Clapham neighbourhood of south London.
The police said that human remains had been found as part of their investigation into her disappearance, prompting an outpouring of grief from lawmakers, community leaders and London residents.
Couzens, a police constable whose primary role at the time was uniformed patrol duties of diplomatic premises, was arrested and charged with Everard’s kidnap and murder, reported CNN.
Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick was in court when Couzens pleaded guilty.
Speaking outside the Old Bailey, she said she felt “sickened, angered and devastated” by his crimes, the BBC reported.
“They are dreadful and everyone in policing feels betrayed,” she was quoted as saying. “Sarah was a fantastic, talented young woman with her whole life ahead of her and that has been snatched away.”
The Independent Office for Police Conduct said that a total of 12 gross misconduct or misconduct notices had so far been served on police officers from multiple forces in relation to the Couzens case, including about the handling of two separate claims that Couzens had indecently exposed himself, it was reported.
