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LONDON — The police officer who pleaded responsible to the kidnapping, rape and homicide of Sarah Everard — a 33-year-old London girl whose dying impressed nationwide requires higher protections for ladies — was sentenced on Thursday to life in jail by Britain’s high felony court docket.
The sentence was introduced a day after prosecutors detailed how the officer, Wayne Couzens, abused his authority and, beneath the guise of the coronavirus restrictions imposed throughout a nationwide lockdown in March, deceived Ms. Everard into thinking that she was under arrest.
Decide Adrian Bruce Fulford, who delivered the sentence, stated that Mr. Couzens had “irretrievably broken the lives of Sarah Everard’s household and pals” and“eroded the arrogance that the general public are entitled to should the police drive in England and Wales.”
Folks in Britain who’re sentenced to life in jail not often serve out the whole time period behind bars, however there may be an exception for probably the most severe homicide instances, when a decide passes a “entire life order,” as was the case for Mr. Couzens. On this state of affairs, the offender should stay in jail for all times with out ever turning into eligible for parole.
Tom Little, a prosecutor, detailed the case towards Mr. Couzens in London’s central felony court docket this week. These current, together with Ms. Everard’s household, heard how Mr. Couzens went “trying to find a lone younger feminine to kidnap and rape.”
Mr. Couzens then confronted Ms. Everard as she walked house from a pal’s home and carried out “a false arrest” to get her into his automobile, the prosecutor stated.
Mr. Couzens, who was a diplomatic safety officer with the Metropolitan Police, introduced a police id card to Ms. Everard and handcuffed her earlier than driving her out of the town, raping her and finally killing her and setting her physique on fireplace, Mr. Little stated.
Her stays had been found seven days later in a wooded space close to Ashford in Kent, roughly 60 miles from London. When Mr. Couzens’ protection lawyer spoke on behalf of his consumer on Thursday, he stated his consumer didn’t dispute any of the info outlined by the prosecution however argued towards the opportunity of a complete life sentence, citing his responsible plea amongst different components.
The main points of Mr. Couzens calculated assault and his abuse of energy as a police officer have shocked rights activists and lawmakers who’ve pushed for an overhaul of the method to policing violence towards ladies.
On Wednesday, earlier than the sentencing listening to started, the Metropolitan Police in a press release acknowledged that Mr. Couzens’ “actions increase many issues.”
After Ms. Everard’s dying, the federal government commissioned a report from an unbiased watchdog group to overview the police response to violence towards ladies and ladies in England and Wales. The report, launched this month, known as for radical adjustments throughout the entire system in approaching these instances.
Zoë Billingham, an inspector at Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary and Fireplace & Rescue Companies, the watchdog group, instructed the BBC Lady’s Hour on Thursday that Mr. Couzens’ actions had “struck a hammer blow to the very coronary heart of police legitimacy.”
“We can not dismiss Wayne Couzens as a one-off, as a rarity, as an aberration,” she instructed the BBC. “We should see each single police drive in England and Wales now stepping ahead to inform its communities exactly what it’s doing to make sure ladies are protected.”
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