SARAH Everard vanished while walking home from her friend's house in Clapham on March 3.
Her killer PC Wayne Couzens, 48, was later sentenced to a full life tariff in prison on September 30, 2021.
Who is PC Wayne Couzens?
Couzens is a 48-year-old constable with the Met Police who lived in Deal with his wife and their two young kids.
Couzens had served with the Met since 2018 and was attached to an armed unit responsible for guarding the London parliamentary estate and embassies.
The dad-of-two was then arrested at his home in Deal, Kent, six days after Sarah went missing on March 3, 2021.
The Met Police confirmed that the suspect was not on duty at the time of Sarah's disappearance.
A neighbour in Deal, Kent, said: “He’s known as a police officer throughout the street."
Couzens commuted into London from his coastal home to guard some of Britain’s most high-profile buildings and people.
It was his dream come true after previously working for more than 20 years at a garage run by his dad Ray in Dover.
BCB Dover at Western Heights closed in 2015 after 48 years.
Couzens started as an apprentice in 1990 working as a light-vehicle body repair technician.
He worked there until 2011 before following in the footsteps of his brother David and becoming a cop.
He joined the Civil Nuclear Constabulary before moving on to serve in the Metropolitan Police.
Shaven-headed Couzens was highly regarded among colleagues for his calm approach — a key attribute for a gun cop.
He was based at Dungeness and received firearms training with the nuclear force.
Couzens transferred to the Met in September 2018 and worked as an armed diplomatic protection officer based in Westminster and guarding embassies and high-profile potential targets.
Couzens had been living with his wife, children and their pug dog.
Friends said he enjoyed running and cycling. He also repaired motorbikes and spent a lot of time on his front drive.
Did he plead guilty to Sarah Everard's murder?
The ex-cop pleaded guilty to the murder of Sarah Everard on Friday, July 9, 2021.
He had previously pleaded guilty to the kidnap and rape and accepted the responsibility for the 33-year-old's killing.
He pleaded guilty to kidnapping Ms Everard "unlawfully and by force or fraud" on March 3, 2021
He also pleaded guilty to a second charge of rape between March 2 and 10.
The Met Police officer appeared via video link at the Old Bailey.
Sarah's family watched from the public gallery as the monster whispered his formal plea.
How long will Wayne Couzens spend in prison?
On September 30, Wayne Cousins was told that he would die in prison after being given a full life tariff for Sarah's murder.
Lord Justice Fulford imposed the rare order, which just 61 criminals in the UK have, as he abused his position as a police officer.
He also became the first British cop to ever receive the sentence.
The judge said: "Sarah Everard was a wholly blameless victim of a grotesquely executed series of circumstances that culminated in her death and the disposal of her body. She was simply walking home.”
He told how Couzens spent a month travelling from his home in Deal, Kent, to London while hatching a gruesome plan to "hunt a lone female to kidnap and rape".
Lord Justice Fulford said Couzens carried out "warped, selfish and brutal offending that was both sexual and homicidal".
He added: "Sarah Everard’s state of mind, and what she had to endure would have been as bleak and agonising as it is possible to imagine."
What happened to Sarah Everard?
Sarah disappeared after leaving a friend's house in Clapham, South London, on the evening of Wednesday, March 3.
At about 9pm she left the property and began walking to her home in Brixton.
She was captured on CCTV at 9.30pm in Clapham after spending 15 minutes on the phone with her boyfriend.
Her boyfriend reported her missing on March 4, the prosecutor said.
A huge search was launched after she disappeared with police searching ponds in the area.
Detectives investigating her disappearance charged a serving Met Police officer in his 40s – later identified as Wayne Couzens.
A week after she disappeared, her body was discovered in a woodland in Ashford, Kent.
On June 1, 2021, post-mortem results revealed that Sarah died from compression to the neck.
The Metropolitan Police said: "A post-mortem examination into the death of Sarah Everard held at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford has given cause of death as compression of the neck.
"Sarah's family have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers."
An inquest opened and adjourned in March heard how the pathologist had "not given a medical cause of death".
Sarah's death has since sparked vigils across the country and demands for action to tackle violence against women.
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