Sarah Everard murder: Wayne Couzens given whole-life sentence

Wayne Couzens has been ordered to spend the rest of his life in jail after a judge said his crimes were as serious as a terrorist atrocity because he abused his powers as a police officer to kidnap, rape and murder Sarah Everard.

The former Metropolitan police officer used his warrant card and handcuffs to get Everard, 33, into his car as she walked home in south London at the height of Covid lockdown restrictions in March, which were his probable pretext for stopping her.

Couzens drove her to Kent before strangling her with his police belt and burning her body. Lord Justice Fulford told Couzens his crimes had damaged the victim’s loved ones and wider society, shattering the Everard family, eroding faith in the police, betraying his wife and two children and stoking the fear women felt.

“You have very considerably added to the sense of insecurity that many have living in our cities, perhaps particularly women, when travelling by themselves and especially at night,” he said.

Related: Wayne Couzens timeline: footage shows movements before murdering Sarah Everard

What earned Couzens a whole-life tariff, said the judge, was the abuse of his position to commit his crimes, meaning the court would treat it as seriously as a murder carried out for a terrorist motive. The sentence means Couzens will die in jail.

“I have not the slightest doubt that the defendant used his position as a police officer to coerce her on a wholly false pretext into the car he had hired for this purpose. It is most likely that he suggested to Sarah Everard that she had breached the restrictions on movement that were being enforced during that stage of the pandemic,” Fulford said.

“Sarah Everard was a wholly blameless victim of a grotesquely executed series of offences that culminated in her death and the disposal of her body.”

The judge said Couzens spent a month travelling to London to research how best to commit his crimes and bought items to use ahead of time.

Fulford said: “There was significant planning and premeditation. The victim was abducted, there was the most serious sexual conduct, the defendant was responsible for significant mental and physical suffering which he inflicted on the victim before her death, and the defendant concealed and attempted to destroy Sarah Everard’s body.”

Couzens, wearing a navy blue suit and face mask, appeared shaky as he stood to hear his sentence, listening with head bowed and eyes closed. At the conclusion of Fulford’s remarks, Couzens was taken down by two police officers.

Everard’s family said: “Nothing can make things better, nothing can bring Sarah back, but knowing he will be imprisoned for ever brings some relief. Sarah lost her life needlessly and cruelly and all the years of life she had yet to enjoy were stolen from her. Wayne Couzens held a position of trust as a police officer and we are outraged and sickened that he abused this trust in order to lure Sarah to her death. The world is a safer place with him imprisoned.

“It is almost seven months since Sarah died and the pain of losing her is overwhelming. We miss her all the time. She was a beautiful young woman in looks and character and our lives are the poorer without her. We remember all the lovely things about Sarah – her compassion and kindness, her intelligence, her strong social conscience. But we especially like to remember her laughing and dancing and enjoying life. We hold her safe in our hearts.”

Couzens, 48, joins a list of about 60 prisoners in England and Wales who are serving whole-life sentences. He pleaded guilty to his crimes but the judge said he showed “no genuine contrition”.

The sentencing guidelines for a whole-life order cover cases such as a double murder, murder and abduction of a child, and murder of a police officer. By giving the sentence to Couzens for a single murder as his abuse of his powers and role as a police officer were integral to his crime, Fulford set a legal precedent.

The judge had studied the case of Thomas Mair, jailed for a whole-life term for killing the Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016. He noted that Mair had not appealed against his sentence, the most severe that can be passed since the abolition of the death penalty.

Fulford said: “The police are in a unique position, which is essentially different from any other public servants. They have powers of coercion and control that are in an exceptional category.”

He said police were expected to use these powers in the public interest, and anything less risked trust in law and order: “If that is undermined, one of the enduring safeguards of law and order in this country is inevitably jeopardised.

“In my judgment, the misuse of a police officer’s role such as occurred in this case in order to kidnap, rape and murder a lone victim is of equal seriousness as a murder carried out for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.

“All of these situations attack different aspects of the fundamental underpinnings of our democratic way of life. It is this vital factor which in my view makes the seriousness of this case exceptionally high.”

Couzens was sacked from the Met after pleading guilty.