GUILTY UK - Sarah Everard, 33, London, Clapham Common area, 3 Mar 2021 *Life sentence* #16

[Silverlink]

Sarah 'was an intelligent, resourceful, talented and much loved young women still in the early years of her life'
Lord Justice Fulford described Wayne Couzens' crimes as "grosteque".

He said: "Sarah Everard was a wholly blameless victim of a grotesquely executed series of offences which cumulated in her death...she was simply walking home mid evening.

"She was an intelligent, resourceful, talented and much loved young women still in the early years of her life.

"I have not the slightest doubt that the defendant used his position as a police officer to coerce her in pretence to lure her into his car which he had hired for this purpose.

"It is most likely he said that she had breached the Covid restriction that were being enforced. Any explanation other than coercion fails to take into account her character”

Live updates as Wayne Couzens sentenced at Old Bailey for Sarah Everard's murder

 

[infinit]

I wonder what would've happened if Sarah had resisted the arrest. Like at that time of covid restrictions, I do remember very clearly that visiting friends wasn't "allowed" (maybe unless in your "bubble"?), but imagine she had genuinely just been out to the supermarket or been going for a walk (daily exercise) or to/back from work, would her reaction have still been the same? Would she still have gotten into the car?...

It's a bit of a flaw in the system and she had no winning moves in her position. Statistically it's improbable it's not an actual officer carrying out duties, and if you resist arrest you commit a crime. I can't find anything that suggests defences e.g. concerned for own safety. I guess if there was such a thing, every criminal in the land would attempt to use it to resist arrest.

 

[Silverlink]

11:41am
'As bleak and agonising as you can imagine'


The judge said that "all that was missing was his victim" when he was doing laps of London in his hire car.

"He stopped and handcuffed her on the roadside and he used his position as his police officer to enable this to happen.

"Her state of mind and what she had to endure over those 80 miles are as bleak as agonising as it is possible to imagine.

"Ultimately, she was raped and strangled to death."

 

[tedtink]

"Her state of mind and what she had to endure over those 80 miles are as bleak as agonising as it is possible to imagine.

Torture.

 

[Mrs Marple]

On tenterhooks here

 

[Silverlink]

11:46am
'No doubt of family's desperation'


The judge pointed out that at 8.14am, Couzens bought himself a hot chocolate and a bakewell tart in Dover, during which "there can be no doubt about the increasing sense of desperation of the Everard family and other friends".

He added: "Their lives will have been irredeemably blighted by his crime."

Lord Justice Fulford made a point of saying how Susan, Jeremy and Katie Everard spoke "with great dignity" which "revealed the true human impact of his warped, selfish and brutal offending".

 

[Mrs Marple]

Can't imagine what the family are going through

 

[Barbieshell]

Torture.

I've had one near death experience and my life flashed before my eyes for a minute, 80 miles worth of that for poor Sarah is almost too hard to comprehend, sickening stuff.

 

[seasideForest]

His colleagues described him as “friendly and calm” - his colleagues also described him as “The Rapist”

iirc it was his colleagues before he was at the Met who described him as "The Rapist". Such a tragedy for Sarah and her family that his colleagues at the Met hadn't noticed this trait.

 

[sriraaacha]

It's a bit of a flaw in the system and she had no winning moves in her position. Statistically it's improbable it's not an actual officer carrying out duties, and if you resist arrest you commit a crime. I can't find anything that suggests defences e.g. concerned for own safety. I guess if there was such a thing, every criminal in the land would attempt to use it to resist arrest.

Yeah probably true. I was thinking more along the lines of, what if she realised she had done nothing wrong/to be arrested for, let alone had handcuffs put on, maybe walked/ran past him or made a scene? Maybe there would have been an alternative outcome? Or maybe if she'd seen a car on the pavement of the road, crossed over... would he have followed her over there too?? There's just so many potential scenarios.

 

[Silverlink]

11:45

What Sarah went through 'would have been as bleak and agonising as it is possible to imagine'
Lord Justice Fulford says mitigating factors for Wayne Couzens have been considered.

He said: “I need to stress the guilty plea will be taken fully into consideration, his age, his hitherto good character and that he is the father of two children.

“The degree of preparation and the length of time it extended is to be stressed.

“What [Sarah] would have had to endure would have been as bleak and agonising as it is possible to imagine. Ultimately she was raped and strangled to death."

11:50

"Warped, selfish and brutal offending"
The moving statements given by Sarah Everard's family yesterday afternoon "starkly" revealed to the judge the impact of her death.

“The family's statement starkly and movingly revealed the true human consequences of this warped, selfish and brutal offending,” he said.

Sarah's family watch on in court, with no reaction from Wayne Couzens, still sat head bowed and eyes shut, surrounded by three security officers in dock.

Live updates as Wayne Couzens sentenced at Old Bailey for Sarah Everard's murder

 

[Silverlink]

11:49am
The judge's five principle issues

1. Was the defendant suffering from a mild depressed state
2. If so, what relevance is the diagnosis
3. Even though not relied on by prosecution or defence, what significance are the details the defendant gave to the psychiatrist
4. Did the defendant intend to kill from the outset
5. What are the terms of the life sentence that must be imposed

 

[Silverlink]

11:52am
Mental health not relevant, judge says


The judge said that although Couzens may have been suffering from mild depression due to his money problems, but this was not relevant to the crimes commiteed.

 

[CuriousObserver1]

A police officer is never off-duty. At the time of duping Sarah he was a police officer but using his warranted powers unlawfully and intentionally for the purpose of committing the worst offences against Sarah Everard, a good, kind and loving woman.

It's a bit of a flaw in the system and she had no winning moves in her position. Statistically it's improbable it's not an actual officer carrying out duties, and if you resist arrest you commit a crime. I can't find anything that suggests defences e.g. concerned for own safety. I guess if there was such a thing, every criminal in the land would attempt to use it to resist arrest.

Going forward though her case will be the the defence if it is a lone 'police officer' saying he is undercover....I doubt another police officer would do this (he was a rotten apple that became a police officer), but this case could protect women where someone 'pretends' to be an undercover police officer - even if someone has really committed a crime, IMO they still can now legitimately insist on a second uniformed officer, or call 999 to check or say they will meet at the police station - if they do that and not abscond, I don't think any woman could now get into trouble/further trouble by resisting arrest by an 'undercover' lone police officer.

 

[Rusty Braincells]

And they want us to trust the police.

https://twitter.com/edmcconnellkm/status/1443528995014840321?s=21

 

[Sarahlou]

11:52am
Mental health not relevant, judge says


The judge said that although Couzens may have been suffering from mild depression due to his money problems, but this was not relevant to the crimes commiteed.

So glad the judge said this

 

[SmallNut]

How can "good character" be a factor for a man who was caught following members of the public home, flashing - and who was £26k in debt? Unbelieveable!

 

[Silverlink]

Judge criticises Couzens' 'wholly false story' of Eastern European gang threatening his family

Lord Justice Fulford said: "The defendant gave police officers a wholly false story which made him the victim, saying he was concerned for his family's safety.

"This was highly detailed and complete fiction He lied throughout his account to the police.

"He factory reset his phone shortly before police arrived. He falsely claimed he would do anything he could to ensure Sarah’s release from the fictional gang.”

In a police interview, Couzens concocted an elaborate story and claimed to be having financial problems.

He said he had got into trouble with a gang of Eastern Europeans who threatened him and his family.

He said that two to three weeks before the kidnapping he had underpaid a prostitute (who he usually met at hotels in Folkestone) and a gang with links to this prostitute told him that, as a consequence, he had to deliver them “another girl”.

They said that if he didn’t, they would harm his family. He also detailed that that the gang had been watching him at his house.

Live updates as Wayne Couzens sentenced at Old Bailey for Sarah Everard's murder

 

[Rusty Braincells]

I seem to have seen reference to him having had two children being considered relevant to sentencing. It should not be.

 

[cuecard]

If he doesn’t get a full life tariff today it is an abject failure of the UK justice system. I refuse to believe his defence believe anything of what they are saying or trying to paint him as.