UK Police confirm human remains found in wooded area of London belong to Sarah Everard
Wayne Couzens
, the main and only accused of kidnapping and murdering Sarah Everard on March 3, has appeared today for the first time in court after it was confirmed that the mortal remains found on Wednesday correspond to the body of the young woman.
The 48-year-old man, a police officer from the diplomatic and parliamentary protection team, allegedly
kidnapped the young woman while she was returning home
at 9 p.m. through the streets of south London.
Dressed in a gray sweater,
yawning and with a supposedly self-inflicted head injury in his cell
, Couzens has, for the moment, only confirmed his personal details in court number 5 in Westminster.
He did so, according to those present, with his head down and in a tone of voice so weak that the judge who was reading the charges against him had to ask him to please speak a little louder.
Subsequently, the magistrate has confirmed that
the case will officially begin next Tuesday, March 16
at the Old Bailey and that, until then, it will remain in police custody.
According to the current investigation, Everard, a 33-year-old marketing manager who lived in Brixton, a neighborhood in the south of London, disappeared while returning from a friend's house around 9:30 p.m. March.
Just before being abducted, during the journey of about an hour on foot to her apartment,
the young woman had been on the phone for 15 minutes with her boyfriend
.
At the moment, it is unknown where the encounter between Everard and his attacker took place, but the first hypotheses suggest that it could even be in the vicinity of one of the main roads that back up the area.
"The investigation is still ongoing and is being led by detectives from the special crime unit in collaboration with hundreds of agents from the Metropolitan Police and from Kent," they point out from Scotland Yard, where they are aware that they are on the point. on the lookout after Couzens, one of his agents,
was shown to have been arrested just three days before the kidnapping for exhibitionism
at a take-out restaurant.
Currently, an internal affairs unit is carrying out six independent investigations to determine whether the actions of the police officers involved in this case have been adequate.
Everard's body appeared last Wednesday in a grove 40 kilometers from the home of the defendant, who is married with two children, but both areas are still being combed today as well as a disused garage owned by Couzens to try to find more evidence than determine the implication of the accused.
The agent, for his part,
has required medical attention on two occasions
during the first 48 hours that he has been detained.
"The suspect was transferred to the hospital to be treated for a head injury that occurred while he was detained last Friday. He was being watched by agents and received immediate first aid," reported the Metropolitan Police, a body that Couzens joined. in 2018.
Demonstrations prohibited
The murder of Sarah Everard has caused during the last week a real avalanche on social networks of women sharing their experiences of harassment on the British streets.
A movement dubbed
Reclaim These Streets
(
Reclaim
Our Streets) that wanted to organize a vigil tonight in south London but that, finally, has had to settle for doing the rally electronically.
The police, given the current restrictions due to the coronavirus,
have banned the demonstration and threatened to fine
all those who do not respect the rules of social distancing.
That is why the organizers have decided to turn the protest into a vigil that will consist of "everyone who wants to join in must go to the door of their house with a light -a candle, a flashlight or a mobile phone- at 9:00 p.m. 30 "at night British time.
In addition, they have set the goal of raising 320,000 pounds (about 370,000 euros) with the aim of
financing various charitable causes
related to the protection of women.
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