UK UK - Sarah Everard, 33, London - Clapham Common area, 3 March 2021 *Arrests* #6

[Chambo1994]

MOO: but why would POI waste time with showing warrant card and having a story for SE about why she should get in his car?
IMO that situation seems convoluted and has more opportunities for eye witnesses/CCTV to capture their interaction.

I doubt SE was given an opportunity to put into practice what many of us would like to think we’d do in that situation (run, get noticed, fight back etc). SE’s character shouldn’t be queried by people speculating on if they’d trust POI because of his appearance and/or asking “why would she get in the car?” and so on - there’s nothing she did wrong: she was right to feel safe where she lived, she was right to walk where she wanted, she was right to trust someone who had evidence that they were LE (if that happened) and she deserves support, not speculation.

I think the natural reaction when crimes of this nature happen is for people to immediately think of violence and the victim being forced, when in reality a lot of these case where people are taken off the street end up being due to the victim being coerced rather than forced. A prime example of this being the Libby Squire case where she was lead to the car by her killer on the pretence of a lift home.

I think with the news coming out this morning that he may have used his badge would suggest he tricked her in some way, the thought in my mind would be that he falsely arrested her for breaking lockdown rules, which led to her getting in the car thinking she was under arrest... but equally it could be the offer of a lift home etc.

I think there will be a lot more to come from this, it would be an incredible occurrence for a serving police officer to commit a murder on his first offence... there are a lot of stones about to be unturned IMO

 

[graceholl]

Using a hire car, and abducting someone in a hire car, on a major road in a busy part of London makes no sense to me. Even less sense when you consider that the suspected perp is LE.

I'm absolutely baffled by it.

EDIT: Just to clarify I don't mean I disbelieve it - more that I'd have thought a member of LE committing such a heinous crime might not do so like this.

 

[Deleted member 269000]

Body found in hunt for Sarah Everard: Police find 'human remains' in Kent wood after arresting serving Met officer, 48, 'who spent day she vanished guarding London's US Embassy' on suspicion her murder

It is understood detectives began to suspect father-of-two Couzens after a vehicle linked to him, reportedly a hire car, was allegedly seen on another motorist's dashcam near to where Miss Everard vanished on March 3.

Detectives carried out a search of Couzens' locker at the police base in the Palace of Westminster on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, police began searching his £200,000 Kent home and garden while a £20,000 black Seat Exeo was taken away on a lowloader. Officers were also seen photographing a motorbike in the property's garage.

Police who arrested Couzens are understood to have taken a memory card as part of their investigation.


Sarah Everard: Serving Met Police officer, 48, arrested over disappearance | Daily Mail Online

Hmm. I’m assuming some additional piece of evidence is being withheld. Learning that a cop’s rental car was seen in the general area of a disappearance, even given his flashing allegation, seems an insufficient reason on its own to immediately suspect him of the offense and begin searching his locker.

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

Phew finally caught up, wow this thread moves fast !
One thing puzzling me , does anyone know the reasons why the press would have an embargo with the info about the body ? It seems it was mentioned in one paper then quickly deleted and not mentioned in any others for quite a while?

It was first stated on here by our VI around 3pm yesterday, that a body had been found. Wouldn't surprise me that the Irish Sun had been snooping here.

That report by VI was obviously correct. Family had to then be contacted, and that would have been in person by a senior officer in the case. Given that a police officer was involved, it then had to go to Cressida Dick and then arrange for her to make a statement, which happened eventually around 8.15. So I think that was the reason for a press blackout.

 

[TheLastBoyScout]

Hello. I'm a first-time poster too. Like many others here it seems, I'm a Londoner who has been deeply affected emotionally by this particularly haunting and disturbing crime against poor Sarah Everard.

Some random thoughts/observations -

In early media reports (6 days ago) it was suggested that Sarah walked part of her journey home with "another friend". An example link of this here :-

Desperate search to find woman, 33, who vanished on way home in south London

Was this ever discounted/proved wrong? My thought being, was the "friend" the alleged perp, WC? Did he somehow either know her (but this is unlikely as the family have said they didn't previously recognise his name) or he was hanging around Clapham Common and latched onto Sarah during her walk home. Did LE interview him early in the investigation, but he said he was a friend of Sarah and they initially had to take his statement at face value as he was a fellow LE officer? But then his statement didn't stand up under scrutiny?

Secondly, people are speculating on how WC may have coerced Sarah into his car. One thought springs to mind. As someone who has walked home many late evenings across London after a few drinks with friends or at a party, I know one thing for certain: I usually have to stop somewhere along the route for a discreet pee. Is it possible that after Sarah's phone conversation with her boyfriend, she needed to stop in the shadowy areas around Poynder's Court to discreetly squat down behind the bins or similar and pull down her leggings to relieve herself. Did WC happen to drive/walk by at this particular moment and happen upon her at a particularly vulnerable moment for her. A few months back I witnessed a very unfortunate drunk man peeing against a building on a public road just as a van-load of police offers pulled up to the kerb. I noted that they were giving him a very stern talking to and leading him towards their van to as I walked away. Could this have been the 'in' WC used to approach/lure her into his car.

Police were seen searching the drains near Poynder's Court - did they theorise that the perp had disposed of Sarah's phone down the drains here.

How did WC overpower Sarah. Is it possible that as an LE officer he had access to weapons like a taser.

The accusation of indecent exposure towards WC seems significant. It seems highly likely that this was a sexually-motivated crime. If WC was cruising Clapham in a hired car with false number plates looking for victims as previously suggested on this thread, then it's possible that his plan was to find a lone female victim to lure into his car with his warrant card on a pretense of having committed a petty crime such as public drunkeness, outraging public decency, or breaking lockdown rules, and then offer her a sleazy choice. 'it seems you're in an unfortunate situation here young lady, but there is a way out of it for you.' And then unzips his pants etc....It seems likely that this kind of sexual power trip would be a strong motivator for the perp. Some previous victims may even have gone along with this, but the fact that the incident has apparently had such a grim and violent ending suggests that Sarah put up one hell of a fight.

These are horrible things to speculate on, but they seem sadly plausible in our current society. If Sarah has met a violent ending as suspected, then god bless her soul, let her have justice, and may her family and friends have comfort, peace and justice too.

 

[mrjitty]

Using a hire car, and abducting someone in a hire car, on a major road in a busy part of London makes no sense to me. Even less sense when you consider that the suspected perp is LE.

I'm absolutely baffled by it.

Me too. I just can't begin to get my head around it

I use a lot of hire cars and most of these have tracking as well (like any late model car). e.g. my current one displays my current road location even when i am not using nav.

So if he used the hire care for the entire crime, they know exactly where he went most likely.

 

[Chambo1994]

Guten Morgen

So now begins the long process of trying to unravel this insanity

Unless he talks, we may never know exactly what happened at 9.30pm

The hire car is evidence of premeditation.

It still makes no sense to me why he would plan such a brazen snatch from a busy road crawling with CCTV - how does a hire car protect his identity? Possibly this guy is simply a bit dim.

No wonder LE struck swiftly once the hire car became part of their canvassing. He would have a hard job explaining why he had a hire car in the area at the time.

Using a hire car, and abducting someone in a hire car, on a major road in a busy part of London makes no sense to me. Even less sense when you consider that the suspected perp is LE.

I'm absolutely baffled by it.

With the hire care, we probably won’t know until the trial what the story on that is.

He could have had it for a number of weeks due to his car being broken for example. Equally it could be sinister in that he needed it to carry out this...

 

[Mimi in London]

Guten Morgen

So now begins the long process of trying to unravel this insanity

Unless he talks, we may never know exactly what happened at 9.30pm

The hire car is evidence of premeditation.

It still makes no sense to me why he would plan such a brazen snatch from a busy road crawling with CCTV - how does a hire car protect his identity? Possibly this guy is simply a bit dim.

No wonder LE struck swiftly once the hire car became part of their canvassing. He would have a hard job explaining why he had a hire car in the area at the time.

The point of the hire car, IMO, was not so much about him trying to protect his identity, as him trying to effect the appearance of an officer driving a sleek, unmarked police car.

 

[RiceCakesAtDawn]

Phew finally caught up, wow this thread moves fast !
One thing puzzling me , does anyone know the reasons why the press would have an embargo with the info about the body ? It seems it was mentioned in one paper then quickly deleted and not mentioned in any others for quite a while?

The purpose of the embargo is primarily to notify loved ones.

But in this case it was critical that Cressida Dick made the announcement rather than the red tops, as she needed to acknowledge that WC was 'one of their own' and to show full condemnation for his actions. This is a PR disaster for the Met. CD needed to start rebuilding trust.

 

[OwlSleuther]

On the hire car note - is this a different car to ones taken from his home? Lots of people have long term lease cars, could this be counted as ‘hire’ car or has it been reported it’s different?

 

[Coach]

Could they have been searching for her phone at Poynders Court and in drains? If he was still in uniform, it could have appeared as if he was still on duty to SE, depending on the type of car her had it could have looked like an unmarked Police car. If she had been drinking, she could have also been impaired with slower reaction times. If he stopped and proceeded to speak to her with a plausible question about where she was going (lockdown) and he had offered to give her a lift home, it is very possible that she got into a car voluntarily. It is also possible that if she had struggled, even if this had been seen by someone, it could have looked like she was resisting arrest by a Policeman who could well have been still in uniform. Her family, friends and boyfriend must be absolutely devastated. If the remains are confirmed as SE, they know that they will never see her again but they will not know how she suffered. Her boyfriend must be absolutely distraught and in pieces, he had been speaking to her on the phone just before she disappeared. I am wondering if the Policeman has used his position of authority in other cases to approach and challenge someone he sees who he has seen out walking on their own during the lockdown, especially if he has seen a woman out walking alone.

 

[mrjitty]

It was first stated on here by our VI around 3pm yesterday, that a body had been found. Wouldn't surprise me that the Irish Sun had been snooping here.

The information will have been briefed on advance to multiple media outlets - but embargoed until the presser. This is common so that media can release comprehensive coverage at the same time.

It's much more likely the sun published by accident.

That report by VI was obviously correct. Family had to then be contacted, and that would have been in person by a senior officer in the case. Given that a police officer was involved, it then had to go to Cressida Dick and then arrange for her to make a statement, which happened eventually around 8.15. So I think that was the reason for a press blackout.

yes - this is all very common - especially in politics

the media respect embargoes as between themselves so that they can all go to press at once - otherwise it would turn into a dogfight.

 

[Coconutty]

I can’t think why he hired a car unless he thought they wouldn’t be able to prove that he was in it at the same time as SE, if/when DNA was found. I’m surprised he didn’t put fake plates on it. Or maybe he did and they tracked him back anyway.

It’s just awful although I’m glad she’s been found. Poor Leah Croucher is still missing.

 

[graceholl]

Someone on Reddit has offered another theory about why SE might've willingly got into WC's car without much concern: if he's been in uniform and has told her that there's been an incident locally and suspect is still 'on the loose', and he will drop her home so that she isn't in danger.

I think in that scenario, I would have got into his car. It's chilling to think about.

 

[LdnPimlico]

I think the phone mugging theory is also realistic - in London, phone snatching is extremely common - has happened to several of my friends whilst walking alone. I could imagine, even though I am very cautious/wary of walking alone at night, if someone had just snatched my phone and someone claiming to be a police officer offered to help me, I might consider that if I felt they were genuinely police...

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

Hello. I'm a first-time poster too. Like many others here it seems, I'm a Londoner who has been deeply affected emotionally by this particularly haunting and disturbing crime against poor Sarah Everard.

Some random thoughts/observations -

In early media reports (6 days ago) it was suggested that Sarah walked part of her journey home with "another friend". An example link of this here :-

Desperate search to find woman, 33, who vanished on way home in south London

Was this ever discounted/proved wrong? My thought being, was the "friend" the alleged perp, WC? Did he somehow either know her (but this is unlikely as the family have said they didn't previously recognise his name) or he was hanging around Clapham Common and latched onto Sarah during her walk home. Did LE interview him early in the investigation, but he said he was a friend of Sarah and they initially had to take his statement at face value as he was a fellow LE officer? But then his statement didn't stand up under scrutiny?

Secondly, people are speculating on how WC may have coerced Sarah into his car. One thought springs to mind. As someone who has walked home many late evenings across London after a few drinks with friends or at a party, I know one thing for certain: I usually have to stop somewhere along the route for a discreet pee. Is it possible that after Sarah's phone conversation with her boyfriend, she needed to stop in the shadowy areas around Poynder's Court to discreetly squat down behind the bins or similar and pull down her leggings to relieve herself. Did WC happen to drive/walk by at this particular moment and happen upon her at a particularly vulnerable moment for her. A few months back I witnessed a very unfortunate drunk man peeing against a building on a public road just as a van-load of police offers pulled up to the kerb. I noted that they were giving him a very stern talking to and leading him towards their van to as I walked away. Could this have been the 'in' WC used to approach/lure her into his car.

Police were seen searching the drains near Poynder's Court - did they theorise that the perp had disposed of Sarah's phone down the drains here.

How did WC overpower Sarah. Is it possible that as an LE officer he had access to weapons like a taser.

The accusation of indecent exposure towards WC seems significant. It seems highly likely that this was a sexually-motivated crime. If WC was cruising Clapham in a hired car with false number plates looking for victims as previously suggested on this thread, then it's possible that his plan was to find a lone female victim to lure into his car with his warrant card on a pretense of having committed a petty crime such as public drunkeness, outraging public decency, or breaking lockdown rules, and then offer her a sleazy choice. 'it seems you're in an unfortunate situation here young lady, but there is a way out of it for you.' And then unzips his pants etc....It seems likely that this kind of sexual power trip would be a strong motivator for the perp. Some previous victims may even have gone along with this, but the fact that the incident has apparently had such a grim and violent ending suggests that Sarah put up one hell of a fight.

These are horrible things to speculate on, but they seem sadly plausible in our current society. If Sarah has met a violent ending as suspected, then god bless her soul, let her have justice, and may her family and friends have comfort, peace and justice too.

The 'friend' scenario never happened and was never reported as such, it was just how it was worded. We went through this on a previous thread. Sarah left her friend's house alone, and remained alone until meeting WC.

I don't really feel a mature woman of 33 would squat down to wee somewhere in public. A teen or younger girl may, but this does not strike me personally as a likely act for her.

 

[Chambo1994]

They don’t usually release info on body’s being found until the process of initial forensics and informing the family has been completed. Looking at the activity at the scene yesterday indicated she was found earlier in the day.

The fact he hasn’t been charged yet would suggest they found the remains through investigation rather than him talking... his wife must be tight lipped too

 

[Inspectorbee1234]

I think the theory that he used his position to tell her something had happened in the area and he could drop her home is plausible. And the fact he was in an unmarked car, he could have said that he’s in one as he’s our patrolling trying to find the perp.

I do hope he talks and we find out and her family get some answers

 

[Coconutty]

On the hire car note - is this a different car to ones taken from his home? Lots of people have long term lease cars, could this be counted as ‘hire’ car or has it been reported it’s different?

The black car being a lease one would make much more sense.

 

[GemmaNut]

One thing that I haven’t seen mentioned is about the outside of Poynders Court (sorry if I’m repeating a post I’ve missed) pictures in Daily Mail and other newspapers showed forensics swabbing the pavement (right near the kerb) outside Poynders Court as soon as they blocked it off ! I googled the make of wipes and they are used to retrieve blood traces! Did they find something on the pavement to suggest a kidnap occurred there?

Search for missing Sarah Everard, 33, enters sixth day as new CCTV footage shows no sign of her | Daily Mail Online

That would tie in with the UV light photography of the drains.

We’ve all held back from discussing the possibility he used a weapon, but although it’s a horrible thought, injuring her to overpower her and smashing the phone at the same time, might explain a lot.

A strong, confident man who had committed previous crimes could do all that on a minute.