A London police officer pleaded guilty to the rape and abduction of a British woman he has been charged with murdering.
Wayne Couzens, a 48-year-old police officer in London’s Metropolitan Police Service, accepted responsibility for the death of Sarah Everard, 33, in court on Tuesday, though he was not asked to enter a plea to a murder charge.
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Everard disappeared on March 3 and was last seen walking home that night.
She visited a friend that evening and left at about 10 p.m. for a 2.5-mile journey home, according to prosecutor Zoe Martin, who noted that Everard stayed on the phone with her boyfriend for 14 minutes and was captured on tape walking alone at 11:15 p.m. and 11:28 p.m.
Couzens was arrested on March 9 after Everard’s body was found in a wooded area in Ashford, Kent, according to a report.
Her murder sparked a nationwide outcry about women’s safety when traveling alone and how to combat the threat of sexual assault.
Mourners poured into the streets for an unauthorized vigil on Clapham Common on March 14, the day Couzens appeared in court. The police department was criticized after being seen handcuffing and removing women.
“The police have a responsibility to enforce Covid laws, but from images I’ve seen it’s clear the response was at times neither appropriate nor proportionate,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said on Twitter.
Cressida Dick, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, rejected calls for her to resign for the police’s use of force that day.
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“Police must act for people’s safety. This is the only responsible thing to do. The pandemic is not over. And gatherings of hundreds of people from right across London and beyond are still not safe,” Dick said in a statement.
Four arrests were made for public order offenses and breaches of health protection regulations, police said.
