Sarah Everard’s body found in builder’s bag, court told

Court artist sketch of serving police constable Wayne Couzens appearing in the dock at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. Photo: Elizabeth Cook/PA

The body of Sarah Everard was found inside a large builder’s bag and identified using dental records, a court has heard.

Serving Metropolitan Police constable Wayne Couzens, 48, is charged with kidnapping and killing the 33-year-old marketing executive, who went missing while walking home from a friend’s flat in south London on March 3.

Her body was found hidden in an area of woodland in Ashford, Kent, on Wednesday.

Couzens appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday morning for his first appearance following his arrest on Tuesday.

The defendant arrived at the central London court at 10am in a large blue police van, stepping into the dock around 10.30am.

He wore a grey tracksuit and appeared to have a red wound on the top of his forehead.

Couzens spoke only to confirm his name and personal details, sitting between two plain-clothes officers in the dock and leaning forward for most of the hearing.

Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring asked prosecutor Zoe Martin to give a brief summary “given the nature of the case and the interest”.

People leave floral tributes at the band stand in Clapham Common, London, after the Reclaim These Streets vigil for Sarah Everard was officially cancelled. Picture: Steve Parsons/PA Wire

The court heard the officer is accused of kidnapping Ms Everard in the Poynders Road area of Clapham.

Ms Martin said Ms Everard was reported missing by her boyfriend on March 4 and that a body discovered on March 10 in a wooded area of Ashford, Kent, had been formally identified as the missing woman using dental records.

A post-mortem examination has taken place but no cause of death was given in court.

The prosecutor said Ms Everard had visited a friend in the Clapham Junction area on March 3 and left at around 9pm to make the approximately 2.5-mile journey home.

She called her boyfriend for around 14 minutes and the court heard there has been no further activity on her mobile phone since then, adding that the phone has not yet been recovered.

It is not clear whether the phone had been switched off or run out of battery, she added.

Ms Everard was caught alone on CCTV at quarter past nine, caught again on a camera at 9.28pm, and later caught on the camera of a marked police car at 9.32pm.

Floral tributes at the band stand in Clapham Common, London, after the Reclaim These Streets vigil for Sarah Everard was officially cancelled. Picture: Steve Parsons/PA Wire

At around 9.35pm, a bus camera captured two figures on Poynders Road and a white Vauxhall Astra with its hazard lights flashing.

Another bus camera captured the same car with both front doors open.

The registration of the vehicle – later confirmed to be a car hired in Dover – was captured and tracked by police as it left London towards Kent.

Judge Goldspring remanded Couzens in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on March 16.

The Metropolitan Police previously said Couzens joined the force in 2018, most recently serving in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, an armed unit responsible for guarding the Parliamentary estate and embassies in London.

His main job was uniformed patrol of diplomatic buildings, and Scotland Yard said he was not on duty at the time of Ms Everard’s disappearance.

Specialist police officers prepare their kit to continue their search near the scene in woodland in Kent, after a body found hidden in the woodland was identified as that of 33-year-old Sarah Everard. Picture: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

On Saturday, the court heard Couzens is a trained firearms officer.

On March 2 he began a 12-hour shift at 7pm before going on leave.

He was due back at work on March 8 but on March 5 he reported that he was suffering from stress.

On March 6 he emailed his supervisor to say he did not want to carry a firearm anymore.

Before his court appearance, Scotland Yard said that Couzens, of Deal in Kent, was taken to hospital for a second time in 48 hours on Friday for treatment to another head injury sustained in custody, before he was discharged and returned to a police station.

He was previously treated in hospital for a separate head wound on Thursday, also sustained in custody when he was alone in his cell.

Meanwhile, police in dry suits were seen continuing to search around the area where Ms Everard’s body was found near Ashford on Saturday.

Timeline of Sarah Everard's disappearance

A serving Metropolitan Police officer has appeared in court charged with the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard, more than a week after the 33-year-old went missing from south London.

Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of serving police constable Wayne Couzens (left), appearing in the dock at Westminster Magistrates' Court, in London where he is charged with murder and kidnapping of Sarah Everard. Picture: Elizabeth Cook/PA Wire

Here is a timeline of the key events in her disappearance:

– March 2: Wayne Couzens, a serving police officer, begins a 12-hour shift at 7pm before going on leave.

– March 3: Marketing executive Ms Everard goes missing after leaving a friend’s house in Clapham, south London, at around 9pm to make the 2.5-mile journey home.

She calls her boyfriend and stays on the phone to him for around 14 minutes, a court hearing on March 13 of the man accused of her kidnap and murder is told.

She is captured alone on CCTV at 9.15pm, caught again alone on a camera at 9.28pm, and later caught alone on the camera of a marked police car at 9.32pm.

At around 9.35pm, a bus camera captures two figures on Poynders Road and a white Vauxhall Astra with its hazard lights flashing.

Another bus camera captures the same car with both front doors open.

The registration of the vehicle – later confirmed to be a car hired in Dover – is captured and tracked by police as it leaves London towards Kent.

– March 5: Couzens, who is due back at work in a few days, reports that he is suffering from stress.

– March 6: Metropolitan Police raise the alarm over Ms Everard’s disappearance, saying it was “totally out of character” for her not to be in contact with family and friends. Police release a CCTV image of her, saying she was thought to have walked through Clapham Common after leaving her friend’s flat, heading towards her home in Brixton, a journey which should have taken around 50 minutes.

A further marquee has been set up as Metropolitan Police continue their search near Great Chart, Kent after a body found hidden in woodland in Kent was identified as that of 33-year-old Sarah Everard. Picture: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

On the same day Couzens, a trained firearms officer, emails his supervisor to say he does not want to carry a firearm anymore.

– March 8: Scotland Yard says it remains “open minded as to all possibilities” over Ms Everard’s disappearance, while confirming a missing persons investigation has been launched. Specialist officers are drafted in from across the Metropolitan Police force.

– March 9: Police use sniffer dogs to search gardens in streets around the site near Ms Everard’s envisaged route home.

A police officer places flowers left by members of the public from the cordon to the site as Metropolitan Police continue their search near Great Chart, Kent after a body found hidden in woodland in Kent was identified as that of 33-year-old Sarah Everard. Picture: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

The Met tweets that it has arrested a police officer at an address in Kent in connection with Ms Everard’s disappearance. Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave says the fact the man is a serving police officer “is both shocking and deeply disturbing”.

– March 10: Detectives investigating the disappearance search a home and woodland at two locations in Kent.

The Met later reveals the suspect is a diplomatic protection officer in his 40s and that he is being questioned over suspected kidnap and murder.

Met Commissioner Cressida Dick announces that what appear to be human remains have been found in woodland in Ashford, Kent.

– March 12: Police confirm the body found in Kent woodland is that of Ms Everard.

Couzens, 48, is charged with kidnap and murder.

– March 13: Couzens appears at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

The hearing is told Ms Everard’s body was found inside a large builder’s bag and identified using dental records.

A post-mortem examination has taken place, the prosecutor says, but no cause of death is given in court.

The court also hears that Ms Everard’s phone has not yet been recovered.

Police in dry suits are seen continuing to search around the area where Ms Everard’s body was found.