Officer falsely arrested Sarah Everard over COVID-19 restrictions before killing her: prosecutors

A former British police officer arrested Sarah Everard over COVID-19 restrictions before sexually assaulting and killing her, prosecutors alleged.

Authorities in London made statements about former officer Wayne Couzens on Wednesday during a two-day sentencing hearing, according to The Washington Post.

During the hearing, prosecutor Tom Little alleged that Everard was “detained by fraud,” according to the newspaper. 

Couzens used “his warrant card and handcuffs as well as his other police issue equipment to effect a false arrest,” Little added. Authorities also said that an eyewitness saw the police officer handcuffing Everard.

Everard was found dead in March nearly 50 miles from where she was abducted as she was walking home from a friend’s house. 

Couzens admitted to raping and kidnapping Everard in early June and pleaded guilty to the murder of Everard a month later.

Everard’s case sparked outrage and demonstrations in the United Kingdom, shining a spotlight on violence against women.

Couzens is expected to be sentenced on Thursday, CNN reported. According to the news outlet, Everard is believed to have died around 2:30 a.m. on March 4, hours after she was kidnapped.

Little said that Couzens burned Everard’s body after killing her, and then moved her remains in green body bags. Little added that Couzens then took his own family on a trip to the same area days later, CNN noted.