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Former policeman who killed Sarah Everard given life sentence for her kidnap, rape and murder

Head of London's Metropolitan Police apologises after Wayne Couzens sentenced to life in prison

Wayne Couzens, the former police officer who kidnapped, raped and murdered London woman Sarah Everard, will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Couzens, 48, stared at the floor in London's Old Bailey as a judge handed down a whole life order — the most severe sentence in the UK — on Thursday.

Lord Justice Fulford described Ms Everard's murder as "devastating" and "tragic", and said she was an "intelligent, resourceful, talented and much-loved young woman".

"First and foremost, Sarah Everard was a wholly blameless victim of a grotesquely executed series of offences that culminated in her death and the disposal of her body," he said.

Ms Everard was walking home from a friend's house in south London on the evening of March 3 this year when Couzens, who was then a serving police officer, pulled over the rental vehicle he was driving and stopped her.

Sarah Everard was kidnapped by Wayne Couzens from a London street on March 3. (Metropolitan Police)

He falsely arrested her for breaching COVID-19 restrictions and handcuffed her before putting her in the car.

Couzens then drove Ms Everard south of London, where he raped and strangled her before burning her body and clothes in an old refrigerator in woodland, on land he owned, before dumping her remains.

Her body was found in Ashford, Kent, about 100 kilometres south-east of London, a week after she went missing.

Couzens joined the Metropolitan Police in 2018 and had worked as part of a team protecting diplomatic locations in central London.

He had worked an overnight shift at the US embassy that finished the morning of the day he kidnapped Ms Everard.

The judge said Couzens had spent at least a month travelling from his home in Kent into London to research how to commit his crimes before he carried them out.

"The degree of preparation and the length of time over which it extended is to be stressed," he said.

"He lied to his family about working a night shift on the 3rd of March."

Lord Justice Fulford said Couzens had gone out "hunting a lone female to kidnap and rape".

"It follows from this that the defendant had planned well in advance, in all its unspeakably grim detail, what was to occur. And when he encountered Sarah Everard, all that was missing up to that point was his victim."

CCTV vision captured some of Sarah Everard's walk home from her friend's house on the night she was kidnapped. (Supplied: London Metropolitan Police)

Sarah's family 'pleased' at sentence

Ms Everard's family was in court for the two-day sentencing hearing, with her mother, father and sister delivering harrowing victim impact statements, and demanding Couzens face them while they were read out.

After the hearing, they released a statement commending the sentence handed down.

"We are very pleased that Wayne Couzens has received a full life sentence and will spend the rest of his life in jail," they said.

"The world is a safer place with him imprisoned."

Sarah Everard was kidnapped by Wayne Couzens from a London street on March 3. (Supplied: Metropolitan Police)

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his government would do "everything possible to prevent these abhorrent crimes" in future.

"There are no words that adequately express the horror of Sarah's murder," he wrote on Twitter.

"Like the rest of the country I have been sickened by what we have heard over the course of this sentencing and the pain and suffering endured by her family and friends is truly unimaginable.

"People must be able to walk on our streets without fear of harm and with full confidence that the police are there to keep them safe."

Police Commissioner under pressure

Before the sentencing hearing began on Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police released a statement saying the force was "sickened, angered and devastated" by Couzens's crimes and he betrayed "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," the statement said.

Britain's police watchdog is looking into police failures to investigate an indecent exposure incident linked to Couzens in 2015, and two further such allegations in February this year.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, who came under fire over the force's handling of a vigil for Ms Everard shortly after her murder, has been called on to resign by London MP Harriet Harman, the former minister for women.

Ms Harman said women's trust in the police would "have been shattered" by Ms Everard's murder.

There have been calls for Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick to stand down. (Reuters: Henry Nicholls)

While Ms Dick did not address questions about her own future while giving a statement outside the court, she did admit that Couzens's crimes had "brought shame" to the force, and apologised to Ms Everard's family.

"I am absolutely sickened... this man has brought shame on the Met – we have been rocked," she said.

"I recognise that a precious bond of trust has been damaged.

"I will do everything in my power to ensure we learn any lessons.

"I am so sorry."

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