In 2021, Sarah Everard was embarking on an exciting new chapter in her life. Born in 1987 to a professor and a charity worker, she was the youngest of three siblings. After earning a degree in human geography from Durham University, she had moved to London in 2008 and built a successful career in marketing, eventually becoming an accounts manager. Living in Brixton, she was in a happy relationship with her boyfriend, Josh. Her friends described her as a truly caring and thoughtful person who never had a bad word to say about anyone and was a great source of support.
On the evening of Wednesday, March 3rd, 2021, she left her home to visit a friend who lived near Clapham Common, stopping at a local Sainsbury's to buy a bottle of wine on the way. After a pleasant evening, she departed around 9 p.m.. At 9:15 p.m., CCTV captured her image at the Bowd Road junction after she had said goodbye to her friend. She then called her boyfriend, and the two spoke for about fifteen minutes, making plans to meet up. Just one minute after the call ended, at 9:28 p.m., another CCTV camera recorded her on Cavendish Road. Her walk home was roughly two and a half miles, a journey that should have taken around 50 minutes. Although Clapham Common was dark, she was known to take a well-lit route, and as an active woman, she had made this walk many times before.
When the next day arrived, there was no sign of her. She missed a work meeting, and her boyfriend was unable to reach her despite trying throughout the day. By 8 p.m., he was concerned enough to report her missing to the police. An investigation was immediately launched. She had been wearing navy trousers with a diamond pattern, a green raincoat, distinctive orange and turquoise trainers, and a beanie. She had her phone and headphones with her, but the phone was now switched off, and messages were not being delivered. Police began the painstaking work of reviewing CCTV footage to trace her route. A crucial camera from an estate agent on the corner of her street showed that she had never walked past, meaning she had not made it home. Investigators found nothing in her personal life to suggest she would want to disappear intentionally.
Her family traveled to London from York to aid in the search, putting up posters and handing out flyers to generate leads. The public reaction to her disappearance was immense and instantaneous; her name began trending on Twitter, and there were widespread calls for anyone with CCTV or dashcam footage to check it for any sign of her. The senior detective on the case, Simon Harding, noted that her choice to walk instead of using public transport might have been influenced by the COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time. When she was last seen, she was approximately one mile from her home, but there was no evidence to suggest she had made it any further.
On March 6th, police released CCTV footage to the public, hoping to jog someone's memory. They confirmed her last sighting and explained her likely route home would have been along the South Circular. The case was deemed of particular concern because her disappearance was so out of character and there had been no contact for three days. Authorities urged the public to think back to that Wednesday evening around Clapham and to review any dashcam or doorbell footage.
Then, a critical piece of evidence emerged. CCTV from a bus showed her standing by the side of the road with a man. Nearby, a Vauxhall Astra was parked with its hazard lights on. The pair appeared to be talking. Another dashcam at 9:38 p.m. captured the same car, this time with both front doors open. The police knew they had to identify this man, and they needed to do it quickly. By March 9th, search efforts had intensified, with police searching drains along the A205 and ponds in Clapham Common. That night, a major announcement was made: a man had been arrested at his home in Deal, Kent. Using the dashcam footage and number plate recognition, investigators had traced the Vauxhall Astra to a car hire firm in Dover.
Staff at the firm provided the renter's details, including two mobile numbers. When police ran those numbers through their database, they came to a horrifying realization. One of the numbers was registered to Wayne Couzens, a 48-year-old married father of two who was a serving Metropolitan Police officer and a firearms officer with the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command. He was arrested on suspicion of kidnap. A woman was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender but was later released with no further action. In an emergency interview conducted without a solicitor present due to the urgent need to find her, Couzens claimed he was in financial trouble and had been pressured by a gang to "pick up girls". He concocted a story that after he put the woman in his car, a van pulled up, men jumped out, pushed him against his vehicle, took the girl, and drove off, telling him they would be in touch. This shocking development—that a serving police officer was the primary suspect—left the public and her family stunned and horrified. An uncle called it unbelievable and totally baffling.
On March 10th, police searches focused on a wooded area near Ashford and a house in Deal. In spite of not having found a body, Couzens was re-arrested, this time on suspicion of murder. Inquiries revealed that he had purchased a small piece of woodland in 2019, and phone data also pointed police to this area. Just before 5 p.m. that day, nine days after she vanished, the search came to a tragic end. Human remains were discovered in the woodland, and dental records soon confirmed they belonged to Sarah Everard. Her family released a heartbreaking statement, describing their beautiful daughter as bright, kind, thoughtful, and a shining example to them all.
The outpouring of public grief was immense. Tributes and flowers were laid on Clapham Common, with even the Duchess of Cambridge paying her respects. The Prime Minister and the Mayor of London expressed their condolences and called for answers. The investigation now focused on piecing together exactly what had happened. It was discovered that Couzens had finished a 12-hour shift on the morning of March 3rd and later picked up the hire car. At 8 p.m., just over an hour before the abduction, he was seen on CCTV in a Tesco in West London buying a packet of hairbands. Investigators believed he had never met his victim before and had used his police warrant card and handcuffs to stage a false arrest, likely using the lockdown rules as a pretext for stopping her. A witness in a passing car had seen her being handcuffed and noted that she was compliant with her head down, not appearing to argue.
Following his arrest, Couzens was taken to hospital on two separate occasions for self-inflicted head injuries sustained while alone in his cell. As the investigation deepened, more disturbing information came to light. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) launched multiple investigations, including one into an allegation that Couzens had committed an act of indecent exposure in a McDonald's just three days before the abduction. Despite this incident being caught on CCTV and reported to the police, he had continued working as an officer. Another inquiry was launched into a 2015 complaint that a man, alleged to be him, had been driving while naked from the waist down. The Metropolitan Police later stated that their vetting checks may not have been done correctly when he joined the force and that they had been unaware of the 2015 allegation. It was also reported that colleagues at a previous force had nicknamed him "the rapist" because he made female co-workers feel uncomfortable.
In the days following the discovery of her body, a planned vigil on Clapham Common was cancelled after the police said it would breach COVID-19 regulations and organizers could face large fines. However, many people still gathered to pay their respects, leading to clashes with police and several arrests. The police's handling of the vigil was widely condemned, leading to an independent investigation and intensifying the pressure on Met Commissioner Cressida Dick. The case ignited a national conversation about violence against women, with thousands sharing stories on social media of feeling unsafe, being harassed, or taking extra precautions just to get home safely.
The true horror of the crime was laid bare during the legal proceedings. The prosecution revealed the extent of Couzens' planning; he had bought a police-issue handcuff key online in February and drove around London hunting for a lone female to kidnap and rape. After the abduction, he drove to a remote area where he raped her before strangling her to death with his police belt. He then bought a petrol can and attempted to burn her body in a refrigerator on his woodland property before dumping her remains in a nearby pond. Over the next few days, while her family and the public were desperately searching for her, he acted with chilling normality. He bought snacks, called a vet to make an appointment for his dog's separation anxiety, and even took his family for an outing to the very woods where he had hidden her body, allowing his children to play nearby.
Wayne Couzens pleaded guilty to the kidnap, rape, and murder of Sarah Everard. During a two-day sentencing hearing, her family delivered powerful statements detailing their unbearable suffering. Her mother told the court her daughter had spent her last hours with the very worst of humanity, and her father spoke of the unending impact of his actions. Her sister explained how he had treated her sibling like she was nothing and thrown her away like rubbish. Throughout their statements, he refused to look them in the eye. The presiding judge, Lord Justice Fulford, stated that the murder had been planned in unspeakably grim detail and that the seriousness of the case was exceptionally high, particularly due to the betrayal of his position as a police officer. He noted that Couzens had eroded the public's confidence in the police and irretrievably damaged the lives of his victim's family and his own.
For his crimes, Wayne Couzens was sentenced to a whole life order, the harshest penalty under UK law, meaning he will never be eligible for parole. The case became a watershed moment, triggering intense scrutiny of police culture, vetting procedures, and the broader societal issue of violence against women. Her life was taken by a man she should have been able to trust, a man who broke his oath to protect the public in the most shocking way imaginable. She was, as so many have said, simply trying to get home.