Boundless love
The story of Sarah Everard
A face, a name, a woman missing in the night.
The first most of us knew of Sarah Everard was a picture. A young woman, her smile effervescent, face open and full of life. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words and in the case of Sarah, this was true. She seemed to be someone who loved life, embraced all it had to offer and the experiences that came her way. She had moved to London and called it home. From the start there was the sense that she could be any one of us.
That first picture of Sarah soon became many. Her image was everywhere and it was everywhere because she was missing. Her family and friends were desperate. How had she vanished as she walked home through those quiet, lockdown streets on the night of March 3, 2021?
The truth of course was terrible. Sarah had been kidnapped, raped and murdered by a Metropolitan police officer. She would never go home to her family and friends, to the warm Brixton flat brimming with life and plans. She would not fulfil the dreams she had shared with her sister, of being a bridesmaid, a wife and a mother, of growing old together and savouring all that life had brought.
Sarah's murder was an atrocity, a heinous crime committed against her, her family, her friends. But as the truth began to emerge her death took on wider significance. A tidal wave of distress and anger was unleashed, much of it aimed at the police. Violence towards women and misogyny were flushed out into the open. There seemed signs of a societal reckoning.
It's been a year since Sarah was taken. This is an account of those bleak days and what came next. Using the words of family and friends, it is also a tribute to the 33-year-old woman who was lost.
Above all, now as then, we will say her name.
Expert teams scoured Clapham Common and ponds and parks in the area as the desperate hunt for Sarah intensified
The journey should have taken 50 minutes. It was a straightforward walk from a friend's house in Leathwaite Road, Clapham, to Sarah's home in Brixton.
She set out about 9pm and, on the way, called her boyfriend. They spoke for about 15 minutes and the conversation ended at 9.28pm. She was last seen on Poynders Road, not far from Clapham Common, where she was captured on a doorbell camera walking in the direction of Tulse Hill. Then she was gone.
By the next morning her friends were already concerned. Sarah hadn’t texted to say she’d got home, she didn’t attend a scheduled client meeting on the morning of March 4, and her boyfriend’s texts had gone unread and unanswered. In the early evening he went to her flat but got no answer there either. It was at this point he went to the police.
Around 180,000 people go missing in the UK every year and there are very few cases that have as high a profile as Sarah Everard's. But from the very start it seemed that she had not vanished of her own free will.
As social media appeals spread and friends plastered Clapham with posters, the police hunt began. Search and rescue teams scoured nearby ponds. Specialist officers trawled Clapham Common for clues, then nearby Agnes Riley Gardens and the Poynders Gardens Estate. Police visited 750 homes and received 100 calls. The public response was huge - but at this point there seemed very little sense of what had happened to Sarah.
Her family were distraught. "Sarah's absolutely amazing, she's lovely and she's fantastic. So sensible. So well-loved by her family, by her friends, by everyone," her cousin Tom told MyLondon on March 8.
"This is so totally out of character for her... we just need to get her home."
Sarah seen on CCTV, shortly before she was kidnapped
Sarah seen on CCTV, shortly before she was kidnapped
Police issued pictures of the clothes Sarah was wearing when she vanished
Police issued pictures of the clothes Sarah was wearing when she vanished
A serving Metropolitan police officer was arrested at his house in Deal (pictured) for Sarah's kidnap
On March 9 a serving Metropolitan police officer was arrested at his home in Deal, Kent, on suspicion of Sarah’s kidnap.
There is bodycam footage taken during the initial interview in his house. Handcuffed in an armchair he denies knowing Sarah or having any involvement in her disappearance.
Later he was to change his story for an account that was insultingly absurd. He was in “financial sh*t”, he said, and had been “leant on” by a gang from “Bulgaria, Romania and Albania” to pick up girls.
He claimed to have kidnapped Sarah and handed her over. She was, he said, alive when they drove off.
"If I could do something to get her back right this minute, I would," he said, but added: "I'll do it again tomorrow if it means saving my family... these guys mean business."
This ludicrous account was the thinnest tissue of lies.
Sarah was dead. He had stopped her on the streets of Clapham, presented his warrant card and staged a fake arrest, citing a breach of lockdown restrictions.
She had been compliant and sat down on the pavement to be handcuffed.
Within hours he had raped and strangled her, burned her body and dumped a builder's bag containing her remains in a pond.
His callousness in the hours after the murder was extraordinary; a 2.31am stop to buy water, apple juice and Lucozade, hot chocolate, coconut milk and a Bakewell tart in Costa at 8.15am. There was a call to a vet to get medication for his dog.
Sarah was found on March 10 and had to be identified by dental records.
"He treated my daughter as if she was nothing and disposed of her as if she was rubbish," her mother said.
"Burning her body was the final insult, it meant we could never again see her sweet face and never say goodbye.
1,500 people ignored police and went to Clapham Common to remember Sarah, the woman who felt so close to many of us
Sarah Everard had been murdered and a police officer was the chief suspect. Anger was to come - but first came a wave of grief. Women shared their stories of walking home at night, of living in fear of assault in even the most innocuous situations.
Walk in the middle of the road. Keep your keys in your hand. Check in with friends when you get back. Don’t run at night. The list of precautions grew and with it a growing sense of deep outrage and fury.
A vigil was organised by Reclaim These Streets (RTS) to remember Sarah. It would take place at Clapham Common, close to where she was kidnapped, on Saturday March 13. With coronavirus restrictions still in force, organisers said that attendees would be “distanced and masked” and that they would make ‘every effort’ to work with Lambeth council and police to ensure safety.
But just hours before the vigil was set to take place, the Met issued a statement. If people gathered they would be encouraged to go home, they said, promising “necessary and proportionate enforcement action” for those who refused.
1,500 people would not be deterred.
They came carrying banners, cards, soft toys. The Duchess of Cambridge visited briefly to lay her own message among the sea of flowers surging from the bandstand.
The vigil began with silence and candles. Some held placards reading “we will not be silenced” and “she was just walking home.”
Then as sun set the atmosphere changed. Police surrounded the bandstand and tried to remove speakers. Male officers were seen grabbing hold of several women then leading them off in handcuffs, trampling tributes as they went. Student Patsy Stephenson was photographed being pinned down by police officers in an image that provoked anger around the world.
The Met had been under fire before the vigil but their tactics - viewed by many including members of the MyLondon reporting team who were there as violent and heavy-handed - were disastrous.
“It was devastating to watch men, especially police, kneel on the backs of women at a vigil about police killing a young woman" vigil organiser Jamie Klingler told us.
The Met remains unrepentant. Speaking in February 2022, Deputy commissioner Sir Stephen House said: “The Metropolitan Police Service handled a very difficult situation in the way they had to handle it because of the Covid regulations at that time…it turned from a vigil into a political rally, and a very violent and aggressive one too” he said.
Sophie Walker, leader of the Women’s Equality Party, sees this very differently. “The only thing violent at that event, which was not a rally but a peaceful vigil, was the behaviour of the police," she says.
Student Patsy Stephenson was arrested at the vigil and this picture of her made headlines worldwide. Many found the image deeply disturbing
The 48-year-old police constable charged with killing Sarah pleaded guilty to her murder on July 9. He had already admitted her rape and kidnap.
A two-day sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey on September 29 confirmed what many had feared. He had exploited his position as a police officer, his knowledge of Covid-19 regulations, his warrant card and handcuffs to kidnap Sarah in a false arrest.
She was handcuffed at 9.34pm, just six minutes after she had finished the call with her boyfriend. Grainy CCTV caught her sitting on the side of the road and a passing car saw her 'arrest'.
Her murderer drove her 80 miles to Kent. At some point this young and brilliant woman, restrained and trapped in the back of a car, must have realised what was happening. She spent her last hours in abject terror at the hands of a man without mercy.
From the moment he shuffled into the dock, that man showed little emotion. Face obscured behind his Covid mask, sandwiched between two prison guards, he did not look up.
Sarah’s family was also in court. They did not look away, listening to how her killer had planned to kidnap a stranger, watched the CCTV of her last movements and listened to the details of her death in silence.
When they addressed the court their words were shattering. They confronted the full horror of what had happened to Sarah with a bravery and truth that moved many to tears.
And they demanded the attention of the killer who had robbed her of her life. “Mr Couzens, please look at me,” her father Jeremy said and Wayne Couzens finally raised his head.
"The impact of what you have done will never end. The horrendous murder of my daughter, Sarah, is in my mind all the time and will be for the rest of my life.
"A father wants to look after his children and fix everything, and you have deliberately and with premeditation stopped my ability to do that.
"You murdered our daughter and forever broke the hearts of her mother, father, brother, sister, family and her friends."
Sarah's sister Katie also addressed her murderer. “How dare you take her from me?” she asked. “Take away her hopes and dreams. Her life. Children that will never be born. Generations that will never exist. Her future no longer exists. The future I was supposed to live with my sister no longer exists.”
Sarah's mother Susan addresses her daughter's murderer before he was sentenced
Sarah's mother Susan addresses her daughter's murderer before he was sentenced
Could Sarah's murder have been prevented? There are still so many unanswered questions. Her killer's colleagues had nicknamed him the rapist. He took prostitutes to parties. There was an indecent exposure allegation in 2015 - did Kent police handle this with the seriousness it deserved?
Just three weeks before Sarah's death, he had pulled up to the serving hatch of a McDonald’s Drive-Thru in Swanley, near Kent. He had his trousers pulled down and exposed himself to a female member of staff.
It wasn’t the first time he’d done it, she said later, but she was the one to report it.
“The whole thing left me quite disturbed,” she added. “He casually pulled up to the serving hatch having ordered his food and I could clearly see that he was naked from below the waist.”
The incident was reported to police. Days before Sarah’s murder, officers arrived to take statements, CCTV footage and details of the number plate, which allowed them to identify the owner of the car.
The police’s initial investigation into Couzens’ indecent exposure at McDonald’s was part of a self-referral by the force to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
What is in no doubt is that three weeks later that man - a serving police officer - was free to rape and kill.
This innocuous McDonald’s, in Swanley, Kent, was where Sarah's murderer exposed himself just three weeks before her kidnap
Sarah's “warped, selfish and brutal” murderer was handed a whole life sentence. It is the first time the sentence has been imposed for a single murder of an adult not committed in the course of a terror attack.
Public outrage did not go away and confidence in the police plummeted. The Met's advice to women - which included flagging down a bus if concerned about an officer - was widely condemned.
In October, the Met announced that it was launching a review of professional standards and internal culture within the force.
There were mounting cases of appalling behaviour by police.
Two officers were jailed for taking pictures of murdered sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman in a Wembley park.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) published a report on February 1 exposing wide-ranging “abhorrent” behaviour at Charing Cross Police Station, including messages to female colleagues saying “I would happily rape you”, jokes about domestic abuse, and racist and sexist comments.
In February two serving and a former police officer were charged with sending "grossly offensive messages on a WhatsApp group that included Wayne Couzens.
At the end of 2021, a YouGov poll, conducted on behalf of campaign group End Violence Against Women (EVAW) Coalition found that 76 per cent of women believed police culture had to change to better respond to violence against women and girls, and just 29 per cent of women said they continued to trust police.
Met Commissioner Cressida Dick was eventually to resign after facing an avalanche of criticsm over the behaviour of her force.
Did Sarah's brutal death change anything? Many believe that the answer is no.
Sarah was a woman who embraced life - and her legacy will live on in the memories of her family and friends
"I yearn for her. I remember all the lovely things about her. She was caring, she was funny. She was clever, but she was good at practical things too. She was a beautiful dancer. She was a wonderful daughter. She was always there to listen, to advise, or simply to share with the minutiae of the day. She was also a strongly principled young woman who knew right from wrong and who lived by those values. She was a good person. She had purpose to her life."
Susan Everard
There were so many tributes to Sarah. Her boyfriend described her as “strong and beautiful,” a former schoolteacher said she was “a lovely, bright, intelligent girl who shone within the school".
Above all her family have shared their memories of her inextinguishable light.
"She was saving to buy a house and looking forward to marriage and children. We were looking forward to having grandchildren. We loved being a part of Sarah's world and expected her to have a full and happy life," her father Jeremy said in court.
Her sister Katie spoke of their plans: "Sarah is the very best person, with so many people who love and cherish her. I want to speak to her and hug her and hear her laugh and go out for dinners and drinks and dancing.
"All those conversations we can never have. There were so many things I wanted to share with her - trips abroad, being each other's bridesmaids, meeting her babies and being an auntie, growing old together and seeing who got the most wrinkles."
The family said that she would never be forgotten - and would be remembered with 'boundless love'.
A year ago today, Sarah Everard was a name known only to her family, friends and colleagues. Within a week we all knew who she was.
Despite the terrible circumstances in which she died, those who knew Sarah have ensured her life is not overshadowed by tragedy.
Instead, she is remembered as a beloved daughter, sister and friend - a “shining example to us all” whose life was defined by strength, hope and love.
This story was produced by MyLondon. Find us atmylondon.news
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