Police officer pleads guilty to Sarah Everard murder

The London police officer who abducted Sarah Everard in March admitted to the charge of murder on Friday.

The 48-year-old officer who guarded diplomatic premises, Wayne Couzens, killed the 33-year-old woman as she was walking home from a friend's house in south London.

Couzens made his guilty plea from Belmarsh high-security prison, appearing in London's Old Bailey court via a video link. He had already pleaded guilty to abduction and rape.

He is due to be sentenced in September.

The murder was met with waves of angry protests against sexualized violence as well as police violence.

Police under fire

Everard went missing on March 3. Police then found her body a week later in a woodland area over 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of London.

Investigators determined from the post-mortem that her death was due to a "compression of the neck."

Couzens was part of a specialist armed unit and had worked for the London Metropolitan Police since 2018.

Police expressed shock at Couzens' violent crime, but also faced criticism over its handling of accusations that Couzens indecently exposed himself just before murdering Everard. The police watchdog has launched an investigation.

Women across the UK responded to the abduction of Everard by talking publicly about their own experiences of being threatened or attacked while walking around alone.

The government pledged to increase police patrols at night to keep women safe.

London police also faced criticism for their heavy-handed response to a public vigil in which several women attending were detained.

ab/sms (Reuters, AFP, AP)