UK police officer charged with murder of 33-year-old woman

Police officers search an area of grass land behind a house, as the investigation into the disappearance of Sarah Everard continues, in Deal, Britain March 12, 2021. REUTERS/Paul Childs

LONDON (Reuters) - British police have charged an officer with the kidnap and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard, whose disappearance last week has sparked anger and fears among women about their safety.

Constable Wayne Couzens, 48, who guarded diplomatic buildings, will appear in court on Saturday. Everard disappeared while walking home from a friend's house in south London on March 3.

The Metropolitan police had confirmed that a body found in a wood outside London was that of the missing woman.

Her case has led to an outpouring of personal accounts by women of their own experiences and fears of walking streets alone at night, and a campaign for action to address this.

"The investigation continues of course," Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave told reporters. "I would like to use this opportunity to encourage anyone that thinks they might have useful information to give, to get in contact with us."

He had said earlier in the day that he understood the hurt and anger sparked by the case. "Those are sentiments that I share personally," Ephgrave said. "I also recognise the wider concerns that are being raised quite rightly about the safety of women in public spaces in London and also elsewhere in the country."

Home Secretary (interior minister) Priti Patel said she would do all she could to protect women and girls following the outcry that has followed Everard's disappearance.

"Every woman & girl should be free to walk our streets without the slightest fear of harassment, abuse or violence," she said on Twitter.

However, police have been criticised by organisers of a planned "Reclaim These Streets" vigil on Saturday near to where Everard was last seen, after officers said it could not take place due to COVID-19 restrictions.

A woman in her 30s, who media said was the partner of Couzens, was released on police bail after having been detained on suspicion of assisting an offender.

(Reporting by Michael Holden ; Editing by Alistair Smout, Giles Elgood and Richard Chang)

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-03-13

 

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5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

"Every woman & girl should be free to walk our streets without the slightest fear of harassment, abuse or violence," she said on Twitter.

Hard to argue with that, but the rub is in the "should"; what "should" be the case and what "is" have long been recognised as being a little divergent - forget the source, but I recall some ancient maxim that a naked virgin carrying a sack of gold on her shoulder "should" be able to walk from one end of the kingdom to the other, without fear of "harassment, abuse, or violence". A bit hyperbolic but the guy who made it was exaggerating to prove a point, methinks. We need to do whatever we can to reduce the risk and change societal attitudes, but we also need to recognise the realities of the situation, rather than go for some mythical state of affairs that's never gonna exist.

14 minutes ago, nausea said:

Hard to argue with that, but the rub is in the "should"; what "should" be the case and what "is" have long been recognised as being a little divergent - forget the source, but I recall some ancient maxim that a naked virgin carrying a sack of gold on her shoulder "should" be able to walk from one end of the kingdom to the other, without fear of "harassment, abuse, or violence". A bit hyperbolic but the guy who made it was exaggerating to prove a point, methinks. We need to do whatever we can to reduce the risk and change societal attitudes, but we also need to recognise the realities of the situation, rather than go for some mythical state of affairs that's never gonna exist.

Putting aside your use of hyperbole, it’s surely not too much to expect serving police officers not to murderers.

 

 

As someone with 4 daughters (all in their 30's) living in central London......before all the fragile men pile in and start complying about women whining on they are hard done.....I can tell you life can be very unpleasant for them.

They are constantly harangued in the street, cars pull up and spout filth, two of them have had to have restraining orders issued against ex-boyfriends (one attempted suicide, poor little soul)

Traveling around has to be thought out carefully, routes, timings etc.

Fortunately all four are very strong characters. and have learnt the following.....

Ignore is their first port of call.....don't try clever put downs...it inflames the delicate male ego......if in a public space and 'safe', go large, go very, very loud.......shame them big time in front of on-lookers..

2 hours ago, Surelynot said:

As someone with 4 daughters (all in their 30's) living in central London......before all the fragile men pile in and start complying about women whining on they are hard done.....I can tell you life can be very unpleasant for them.

They are constantly harangued in the street, cars pull up and spout filth, two of them have had to have restraining orders issued against ex-boyfriends (one attempted suicide, poor little soul)

Traveling around has to be thought out carefully, routes, timings etc.

Fortunately all four are very strong characters. and have learnt the following.....

Ignore is their first port of call.....don't try clever put downs...it inflames the delicate male ego......if in a public space and 'safe', go large, go very, very loud.......shame them big time in front of on-lookers..

Worked in London until COVID, never saw anything like this while out and about in the Bayswater/Hyde Park area. I'm sure I would have noticed any street shouting happening near me.

This did happen in Brixton however, and I've never dared to walk around there late at night at any time in the past 40 years. Would also like to point out they also arrested a woman for playing some part in this murder.

My wife had a restraining order issued against me as her first step in the divorce, it's what women do these days as part of their separation plan, along with complaints to the police even though I moved out and never went back. I put it down to a rise in vindictiveness/greed as opposed to an increase in negative male behaviour towards women. I don't think what you wrote is something you have witnessed directly, but just stories you have been told.  And would like to point out my two thirty something single feminist daughters living and working in London were also full of complaints against men, all imagined as far as I could tell, or brought about by their own bad behaviour towards men.

It's terrible a woman has been murdered, but it's also terrible that men are constantly being murdered.

44 minutes ago, mikeymike100 said:

You make some very good and practical points! The question is would the same kind of thing happened to your daughters 30 years ago before London, and the rest of the UK,  became so ''diverse'' ?? 

Congratulations on your attempt to make this case of murder by a police officer about immigration.

50 minutes ago, mikeymike100 said:

You make some very good and practical points! The question is would the same kind of thing happened to your daughters 30 years ago before London, and the rest of the UK,  became so ''diverse'' ?? 

An emphatic yes

57 minutes ago, OswaldBastable said:

My wife had a restraining order issued against me

Section 5 of the PHA 1997 previously permitted a criminal court to make a restraining order only when sentencing or otherwise dealing with a defendant convicted of an offence of harassment (contrary to section 2 PHA 1997) or an offence of putting someone in fear of violence (contrary to section 4 PHA 1997)

Doesn't sound like they dole them out without good reason.

1 minute ago, Surelynot said:

Section 5 of the PHA 1997 previously permitted a criminal court to make a restraining order only when sentencing or otherwise dealing with a defendant convicted of an offence of harassment (contrary to section 2 PHA 1997) or an offence of putting someone in fear of violence (contrary to section 4 PHA 1997)

Doesn't sound like they dole them out with good reason.

Sorry, should have said 'occupation order'. I'm not a lawyer, but there's a whole host of different orders that can be easily made. No evidence is required to get such orders beyond 'she said'.

2 minutes ago, OswaldBastable said:

Sorry, should have said 'exclusion order'.

What is an exclusion order?

An exclusion order is a type of protective court order that suspends the right of a married person, civil partner or cohabitee to live in the family home. You can apply for an exclusion order if your spouse or partner has done or is threatening to do something that has harmed or would harm you or your children either physically or mentally.

4 minutes ago, OswaldBastable said:

Sorry, should have said 'occupation order'.

Getting there.....555

1 hour ago, mikeymike100 said:

You make some very good and practical points! The question is would the same kind of thing happened to your daughters 30 years ago before London, and the rest of the UK,  became so ''diverse'' ?? 

Well this particular individual was up to his "antics" in Whitechapel 130 years ago:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper

 

I wonder why misogyny and racism tend to go hand in hand in many mens minds........there must be some deep, underlying connection?

Lack of education?........the wrong type of education (indoctrinated at home).........strange.

 

1 hour ago, mikeymike100 said:

You make some very good and practical points! The question is would the same kind of thing happened to your daughters 30 years ago before London, and the rest of the UK,  became so ''diverse'' ?? 

The world has changed in many ways over the last 20 years, in many ways for the worse.

Blaming foreigners or immigration is pretty lazy, London has been multicultural for as long as I can remember,diversity can be and is something commendable.

I would be amazed to find that this policeman turns out to be from one of the "diverse" groups you are intent on pointing your finger at.

 

 

 

 

3 minutes ago, shy coconut said:

The world has changed in many ways over the last 20 years, in many ways for the worse.

Blaming foreigners or immigration is pretty lazy, London has been multicultural for as long as I can remember,diversity can be and is something commendable.

I would be amazed to find that this policeman turns out to be from one of the "diverse" groups you are intent on pointing your finger at.

 

 

 

 

His pic is in the papers now....at the risk of sounding racist....he looks like a true blue Brit.

He's(policeman/accused) has also been to the hospital on two separate occasions in the last 2 days for knocking his head against the wall of his prison cell....

 

 

11 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

His pic is in the papers now....at the risk of sounding racist....he looks like a true blue Brit.

But, but what about diversity, it's all the immigrants fault.

I am not saying that immigration and integration doesn't present problems, you only have to see the pages and pages of moaning from expat's here to see how difficult it is to settle in a country whose language and culture differ so much from what you are used to.

 

It's really disappointing that an article about a young woman murdered by a police officer can somehow be attributed to immigration policies.

what I am really shocked about is that the name of the "suspect" was not withheld as some posters here led us to believe was normal procedure until proven guilty, lol.

so much for that.

 

Just now, tgw said:

what I am really shocked about is that the name of the "suspect" was not withheld as some posters here led us to believe was normal procedure until proven guilty, lol.

so much for that.

 

Read somewhere it should be withheld unless/until it is released in the official police statement.......not sure what the "should" means though.

Just now, Surelynot said:

Read somewhere it should be withheld unless/until it is released in the official police statement.......not sure what the "should" means though.

well, yes, until the official police statement - that's common sense.

but the question is: when should the police release the name? obviously all suspects aren't treated the same.

1 minute ago, tgw said:

well, yes, until the official police statement - that's common sense.

but the question is: when should the police release the name? obviously all suspects aren't treated the same.

True...can't imagine there are not strict guidelines/policies covering this stuff.

1 minute ago, Surelynot said:

True...can't imagine there are not strict guidelines/policies covering this stuff.

Criminal suspects should not be named until they are charged except if circumstances mean lives could be in danger, new official police guidance warns, in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry.

2 minutes ago, tgw said:

well, yes, until the official police statement - that's common sense.

but the question is: when should the police release the name? obviously all suspects aren't treated the same.

Cliff Richard had his house raided and the police tipped off the BBC who were all over it.

I'm not sure he had even been charged at the time, although the tip off may not have been an official police release.

1 minute ago, shy coconut said:

Cliff Richard had his house raided and the police tipped off the BBC who were all over it.

I'm not sure he had even been charged at the time, although the tip off may not have been an official police release.

Cliff Richard was never arrested or criminally charged.

4 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Putting aside your use of hyperbole, it’s surely not too much to expect serving police officers not to murderers.

 

 

what's sad is that there was a chance to get this psychopath off the streets prior to the murder but he was protected (it appears) - troubling but not unheard of as police tend to cover for each other in every country..

1 hour ago, shy coconut said:

I would be amazed to find that this policeman turns out to be from one of the "diverse" groups you are intent on pointing your finger at

You'd be right, the guy looks exactly like 'Grant Mitchell' from Eastenders.

Are we even sure this was a sex attack on a random woman by a mentally ill person, I'd think this was more of a paid hit (although have no evidence to support my police hitman theory apart from another woman being arrested for her involvement).

I've found foreigners, non-whites and immigrants in London to be much more polite and helpful than the native population.

1 hour ago, Surelynot said:

True...can't imagine there are not strict guidelines/policies covering this stuff.

There are: Engagement and communication Media relations.

Basically, a suspect should not be named prior to charge except for operational reasons, such as aiding in finding and arresting them or because the suspect represents a danger to the public.

Couzens has been charged, so can be named. The woman arrested at the same time has not yet been named because she has been released on bail and not yet been charged with any offence.

If the media discover the name of a suspect prior to charge then the police will neither confirm nor deny. If the media then choose to publish that name, that is their choice.

5 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Putting aside your use of hyperbole, it’s surely not too much to expect serving police officers not to murderers.

 

 

Since when are murderers and certain occupations mutually exclusive?! Murderers come from all walks of life!

28 minutes ago, pacovl46 said:

Since when are murderers and certain occupations mutually exclusive?! Murderers come from all walks of life!

Delete

2 hours ago, OswaldBastable said:

Worked in London until COVID, never saw anything like this while out and about in the Bayswater/Hyde Park area. I'm sure I would have noticed any street shouting happening near me.

This did happen in Brixton however, and I've never dared to walk around there late at night at any time in the past 40 years. Would also like to point out they also arrested a woman for playing some part in this murder.

My wife had a restraining order issued against me as her first step in the divorce, it's what women do these days as part of their separation plan, along with complaints to the police even though I moved out and never went back. I put it down to a rise in vindictiveness/greed as opposed to an increase in negative male behaviour towards women. I don't think what you wrote is something you have witnessed directly, but just stories you have been told.  And would like to point out my two thirty something single feminist daughters living and working in London were also full of complaints against men, all imagined as far as I could tell, or brought about by their own bad behaviour towards men.

It's terrible a woman has been murdered, but it's also terrible that men are constantly being murdered.

Just because you’ve never seen it happening in London doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen! Why would he make up that story about his 4 daughters?! You can also just go ahead and ask the women in your social environment whether it has happened to them before and you’ll probably be surprised!