A British court has handed the police officer who kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard a whole life sentence without parole.
Wayne Couzens, 48, abducted Everard on March 3 while she was walking home from a friend’s house in south London. He had pleaded guilty to murder, rape and kidnap.
Thursday’s sentencing at London’s Central Criminal Court means Couzens, who was part of the Metropolitan Police (MET) service’s elite diplomatic protection unit at the time of Everard’s killing, will never be eligible for release from prison.
Reading the sentence, Justice Adrian Fulford described the circumstances of the murder as “grotesque” and said Couzens had demonstrated “no evidence of genuine contrition”.
He said the seriousness of the case was so “exceptionally high” that it warranted a whole life order, the most severe punishment available in the UK.
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