PC Wayne Couzens accepts responsibility for killing Sarah Everard
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officer accused of killing Sarah Everard has pleaded guilty to rape and kidnap and accepted responsibility for her death.
Police Constable Wayne Couzens, 48, made the admissions when he appeared at the Old Bailey on Tuesday (June 8) but was not asked to enter a plea to the charge of murder.
Ms Everard, 33, went missing as she walked home from a friend’s house in Clapham, South London, on March 3. She was reported missing by her boyfriend the following day and her body was found hidden in an area of woodland in Ashford, Kent, on March 10.
The officer appeared by video link from Belmarsh jail where he is being detained.
He pleaded guilty to kidnapping Ms Everard “unlawfully and by force or fraud” on March 3 and to a second charge of rape between March 2 and 10.
PC Couzens will next appear in court on July 9.
Ms Everard’s death prompted a national debate around female safety and has increased demands for more to be done to tackle violence against women.
