Explained: Who Was Sarah Everard And Why Are Britons Angry At The Police Force?

The police made two arrests within a week Everard went missing. The first arrest was made of a 48-year-old police constable, Wayne Couzens, on suspicion of kidnapping, along with the second person who is a woman in her 30s on suspicion of assisting the offender.

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Sarah Everard Case: The United Kingdom is once again embroiled in a different controversy, and the latest being disappearance and death of a 33-year-old marketing executive known as Sarah Everard from South London followed by the arrest of a police officer accused of murdering her.

The incident has intensely angered Londoners staging massive protest in view of violence against women and hundreds of protesters joined a new vigil for Sarah Everard on Monday, even as the home secretary warning against such gatherings. Also Read: AstraZeneca Shots Paused In European Countries; WHO Says It's Safe

Expressing concern about Everard and her family, Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted, “I cannot imagine how unbearable their pain and grief is. We must work fast to find all the answers to this horrifying crime,” adding, “I will do everything I can to make sure the streets are safe and ensure women and girls do not face harassment or abuse.”

(An undated handout picture released by the Metropolitan Police on March 10, 2021, shows CCTV footage of missing Sarah Everard on March 3, as she walked along the A205 Poynders Road, from the junction with Cavendish Road, in the direction of Tulse Hill in south London. A police officer in London's diplomatic protection force was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of murder following the disappearance of a 33-year-old woman while she was walking home, police said. The arrest follow a week-long investigation into the disappearance of Sarah Everard, who vanished while walking home from a friend's flat in south London on the evening of March 3. METROPOLITAN POLICE / AFP)

Johnson and his fiancée Carrie Symonds also lit a candle on Saturday in tribute to Everard along with the Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. Wales’s First Minister Mark Drakeford also insisted that people should “ignite a fire for change”.

Who’s Sarah Everard and the reason behind the massive outcry?

Sarah Everard was a 33-year-old marketing executive from South London who disappeared while walking home to Brixton after visiting a friend in Clapham.  The location is just 50 minutes away from the destination.

As per the BBC report, on March 3, Everard left Clapham at 9 PM and have walked through Clapham Common, a large park. On her way back home she spoke to her boyfriend on her mobile phone for around 15 minutes, and was last spotted in the footage of a doorbell camera at 9:28 PM.

 

(Well-wishers gather beside floral tributes to honour alleged murder victim Sarah Everard at the bandstand on Clapham Common in southwest London on March 15, 2021. Tolga Akmen/ AFP)

On the next day, Everard’s boyfriend reached out to the police saying she went missing. The police then starting looking for public help to find her whereabouts, and later tweeted to track information from Londoners.

On March 10, the police discovered bodily remains in a wooded area of Ashford town in Kent, and on March 12 it was confirmed that the body belonged to Everard after analysing the dental records.

Who is Wayne Couzens, the main accused who has been arrested?

The police arrested two persons within a week on March 9. The first one held was a 48-year-old police constable, Wayne Couzens, on suspicion of kidnapping, along with the second person who is a woman in her 30s on suspicion of assisting the offender.

Metropolitan Police Officer Wayne Couzens, 48, has been charged with the murder and will appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court on Saturday, the BBC reported.

On March 12, Couzens was charged with the kidnapping and murder after authorisation from the Crown Prosecution Service. The accused appeared before a magistrate’s court on March 13 and has been remanded in custody. He will brought before the Central Criminal Court (also called Old Bailey) on Tuesday (March 16).

 

(Police officers form a cordon around a statue of former prime minister Winston Churchill in Parliament Square in central London on March 14, 2021 as protesters calling for greater public safety for women after the death of Sarah Everard. PIC/AFP)

Couzens has been with the Met for two years and first posted in South London, but has een recently serving in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command. It is the unit in charge with ptotection of UK’s Parliamentary estate and embassies in London.  Infact, the police also verified that Couzens had not been on duty at the time of Everard’s disappearance.

The accused is also found to be a suspect in a separate incident that is related to indecent exposure for which the police watchdog is currently investigating.