A court has heard harrowing details surrounding the final hours of Sarah Everard, before she was raped, murdered and then burned by former Metropolitan police officer Wayne Couzens.
Ms Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive from Surrey, was abducted by the then-serving officer on 3 March while walking home from a friend's house in south London.
The court was told by prosecutors that Couzens' horrifying actions could be summed up in five words: "Deception, kidnap, rape, strangulation, fire".
As Couzens prepares to find out whether he will face life behind bars, here is how the events of the night are believe to have unfolded and what happened during the days following her murder before her body was found on 10 March, near Couzens' home in Kent.
March 2: At 7pm, Couzens starts a 12-hour overnight shift at the US Embassy, south-west London. During the shift, Couzens talks about leaving the Met over a pay dispute and says he might go off sick with stress.
Couzens was in debt to the tune of £29,000, using short-term payday loans, and was in a dispute with the Met over his pay scale.
March 3: On the day of her disappearance, Sarah Everard visits a friend in the Clapham Junction area and uses her bank card to buy a bottle of wine in Sainsbury’s in Brixton Hill, south London, on her way.
4.45pm – Couzens collects a hire car that he had booked the previous month. He also purchased a roll of self-adhesive film advertised as a carpet protector on Amazon.
Prosecutor Tom Little told the court on Wednesday that Couzens' movements were consistent with the defendant looking for – or hunting for – a lone young female to kidnap and rape.
9pm – Ms Everard leaves to walk home, some 2.5 miles away.
9.13pm – She calls her boyfriend for a little over 14 minutes.
Watch: Cressida Dick says Met are 'sickened' by Couzens' crimes
9.15pm – Ms Everard is captured alone on CCTV at the junction of Bowood Road and the South Circular.
9.28pm – The next sighting is on Cavendish Road and she is still alone.
9.32pm – Ms Everard is caught on the camera of a marked police car.
9.34pm – Couzens handcuffs Ms Everard using handcuffs he purchased on Amazon. It is not quite clear how Couzens was able to 'apprehend' her.
The prosecution has said that Couzens had worked on uniformed COVID patrols in late January to enforce coronavirus regulations, so would have known what language to use to those who may have breached them.
CCTV footage played in court shows Couzens raising his left arm, holding a warrant card, before handcuffing Ms Everard and putting her into the back of the car.
A passing couple witnessed the kidnapping but mistook it for an arrest by an undercover officer, the court heard.
“They were in fact witnessing the kidnapping of Sarah Everard,” the prosecution told the court.
Couzens is thought to have been wearing his police belt with handcuffs and a rectangular black pouch, similar to a pepper spray holder.
9.35pm – A bus camera captures two figures on Poynders Road standing beside a white Vauxhall Astra parked on the pavement with hazard lights flashing.
9.36pm – Couzens puts Ms Everard into the back of his car.
9.38pm – Another bus camera captures the same vehicle with the two front car doors open.
11.30pm – CCTV shows Couzen's hire vehicle in Dover shortly after 11.30pm as he transfers his victim to his own car. It is believed Couzens then dove to a remote rural area north-west of Dover which he knew well where he parked up and raped Ms Everard.
March 4: 1am – Having travelled out of London, the car is seen in the Tilmanstone area of Kent.
2.31am – Couzens is believed to have murdered Ms Everard around this time.
8.15am - Couzens is captured on CCTV in a Costa Coffee shop in Dover buying a hot chocolate and bakewell tart.
8.30am – The killer returns the hire car used in the abduction.
That morning, Couzens is thought to have thrown Ms Everard’s mobile phone into a channel at Sandwich, only for it to be later retrieved by a diver as part of a search of the waterway.
8.10pm – Ms Everard is reported missing by her boyfriend, Josh Lowth.
March 5: The case is escalated and the Specialist Crime Unit becomes involved. Couzens, who is due to be off until 8 March, reports to work that he is suffering with stress.
It is believed Couzens buys the petrol on this day before burning her body at around 12.45pm in Hoad's Wood, Kent. A witness sees the flames.
2pm – He buys two green rubble bags for £9.94 at B&Q in Dover.
March 6: Couzens emails his supervisor that he no longer wants to carry a firearm.
He orders a tarpaulin and a bungee cargo net on Amazon, which are shipped to him the next day.
March 7: Couzens takes his wife and two children on a family trip to the woods where only days before he had burned Ms Everard’s body.
En route, he withdraws cash from the same service station he had been to shortly after raping and murdering his victim.
Couzens allows his children to play near where Ms Everard's body had been dumped in the pond.
March 8: The officer reports in sick on the day he is due to return to work.
March 9: 7.11pm – Couzens’ phone is wiped of all data.
7.50pm – Couzens is arrested at his home in Deal, Kent.
In a brief interview, he tells a story about being threatened by an Eastern European gang.
March 10: At around 4.45pm, a body is discovered in a wooded area in Ashford, Kent, and later formally identified by dental records. It is around 100 metres from land owned by Couzens.
March 11: Couzens answers “no comment” in formal interviews.
March 13: Police clash with mourners at a vigil for Ms Everard on Clapham Common. The force had banned the vigil on the grounds that it broke coronavirus regulations. However, hundreds of women pay their respects regardless. Several mourners are arrested by police.
July 9: Couzens pleads guilty to murder when he appears at the Old Bailey by video link from Belmarsh high security jail.
September 29: Couzens faces a possible whole life order when he is sentenced.
The Met Police have been criticised for failing to spot warning signs surrounding Couzens prior to Ms Everard's murder.
In 2015, Couzens was accused of indecent exposure by a woman while serving as an officer in the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC).
It is alleged that Kent Police failed to investigate the incident. In the wake of Ms Everard's murder, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has launched a probe into whether the allegation of indecent exposure were investigated properly.
In February 2021, Couzens was also linked linked to two allegations of indecent exposure in London, which it is claimed Scotland Yard failed to investigate.
Two police officers are currently being investigated for misconduct due to the alleged incident.
A videoke session was cut short after a village councilor in Dalaguete town in southern Cebu allegedly stabbed his attacker on Friday at 8 p.m., September 16, 2022.Police identified the suspect as Barangay Nalhub councilor Miguel Obiedo Belda, 51, of Sitio Alang-alang of the said barangay, and the victim as Mario Agtong Obiedo, 39, a farmer.Belda was allegedly attacked by his relative Mario, while he was singing 'Di Ko Kayang Tanggapin' of the late April Boy Regino.But he ended up in jail after
A ROBBER ended up in the hospital after he was stabbed by his victim.According to Staff Sergeant Ador Bacalso of the Mabolo Police Station, the investigator handling the case, the suspect, 22-year-old Dave Rojo Suson, followed Grace (not her real name) as she entered her boarding house on L. Tudtud St. in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City past 11 p.m. Saturday, September 17, 2022.Grace, a 35-year-old insurance manager, thought Suson also lived there so she didn’t mind him.A few minutes after entering h
THE Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) will hold the Pambansang Kongreso sa Nanganganib na Wika (National Congress on Endangered Languages) on Oct. 24-26, 2022 at the National Museum in Manila.The event is in line with its mandate to preserve the country’s native languages and in response to the International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032 (Idil 2022-2032).The national agenda for the protection of the endangered language and the result of the implementation of Bahay-Wika and Master-
THE Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) is prepared to divulge the result of the investigation on the bogus bomb threat at the University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu on Friday, September 16, 2022.The Mabolo Police Station received a call around noon from a certain Manlalaban Espina that there was a bomb inside the campus located in Barangay Kamputhaw, Cebu City.A team from the Special Weapons and Tactics and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal was quickly dispatched to the scene only to discover that th
This trilogy is five years in the making but I’m not complaining. For how is it that after 24 brutal rounds between Gennady Golovkin and Saul Alvarez, neither of us can truly say who is the better fighter?Today’s fight can hopefully settle that issue once and for all. But first let’s examine what each fighter brings to the table in their third encounter.GGG. It’s been almost four years since their second encounter and since then, he has soundly defeated all four of his opponents, two within the
Fifty years is a long time, long enough for memories to fade.But what happened on Sept. 21, 1972 will stand out despite the years because the dictatorship that followed was not mere chismis (gossip).On that day, President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. signed Proclamation 1081 placing the Philippines under martial law. A day later, he issued General Order No. 1, s. 1972, transferring all powers to himself as president who was to rule by decree. (Official Gazette of The Republic of the Philippines).On S
THE fare increase for public utility vehicles (PUVs), particularly the P1 hike for traditional and modernized jeepneys, is already permanent and no longer provisional, according to Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Central Visayas (LTFRB 7) Director Eduardo Montealto Jr.Montealto told SunStar Cebu that a P2 provisional base fare was approved in June and became effective in July this year, but the LTFRB only granted a P1 permanent base fare.“If it’s provisional, the hike can
OVER a century after the Buhisan Dam’s completion, Cebu City has a new facility that is expected to supply more water to its growing population.This new facility is the P1.1 billion Lusaran Water Depot, which the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) opened on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022.During the opening of the water facility in Barangay Busay, MCWD chairman Jose Daluz III said the facility will complement the Buhisan Dam in providing much-needed water in the city.The bulk water facility can prov
THE Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) is prepared to divulge the results of the investigation into the alleged bomb threat at the University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu on Friday, Sept. 16, 2022.This, after UP Cebu officials and students sought the CCPO’s explanation as to why it conducted an operation inside the campus based on a prank phone call.The Mabolo Police Station received a call around noon from a certain Attorney Espina that there was a bomb inside the campus located in Barangay Kamputh
WITH an increase in the number of cases this month, the Department of Health (DOH) 7 reminded the people to clean their surroundings regularly and stay protected against the dengue virus and leptospirosis.DOH 7 Director Jaime Bernadas confirmed on Friday, Sept. 16, 2022, that there had been a “slight surge” of cases, particularly for dengue, for almost two months now.For leptospirosis, Bernadas said several cases were reported, but they have not received reports of new cases at present.Data from
MORE than 11,000 students in Cebu City will each receive up to P4,000 worth of financial assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).Dr. Ester Concha, head of the City’s Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS), told SunStar Cebu on Sunday, September 18, 2022, that their office released cash aid to over 4,000 students on Saturday, September 17.Concha said 11,191 students in Cebu City were able to register in the online portal of the DSWD’s Assistance to Indivi
A 42-year-old man accused of peeping a woman was nabbed via a citizen's arrest after he stabbed his neighbor who called his attention.The incident happened at 12:30 a.m. on Friday, September 16, 2022, in Sitio Riverside 2, Barangay Cansojong, Talisay City, Cebu.Police Corporal Noel Timagos, case investigator, identified the suspect as Rosbeto "Beto" Eheda, 42, of Purok Gumamela, Barangay San Roque, Talisay and the stabbing victim as Mark Wilson Reyes, 23, of Sitio Riverside 2.Police investigatio
CREATING a new avenue of connectivity to reach more Filipinos, Globe has fired up over 200 stores across the country as pioneer hubs of its newly-launched TMBayan Fiber WiFi, a prepaid WiFi service that aims to deliver reliable and affordable connectivity for community use via fiber connectivity.With TMBayan Fiber WiFi, Globe’s first foray into prepaid fiber, neighborhood tambayans will be powered by Globe’s fast and reliable fiber and available at affordable rates to community members who rely
MOODY’S affirmation of the Philippines’ investment-grade credit rating of “Baa2” with a “stable” outlook will support the sustained recovery of the domestic economy, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Gov. Felipe Medalla said.In a statement on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, Medalla welcomed Moody’s recognition of the country’s well-capitalized banking system, which continues to provide the funding needs of businesses and households, in view of the economy’s sustained recovery and sound fundamentals, a
A PERSON with disability (PWD) was injured during an altercation with neighbors in Sitio Tanyong, Barangay Poblacion in the town of Clarin, Bohol on Saturday night, September 17, 2022.John Christian Pimuat, 18, sustained a hack wound on the left ear.Pimuat rents a room in a boarding house in the sitio with his two younger sisters.The suspects were identified as Jerome Cabase, 28, and his live-in partner Maria Loida Avenido, 32.Corporal Renilo Moreno of the Clarin Police Station told SunStar Cebu
SAYING the fare hike would be an added burden amid the increasing prices of some commodities, some commuters and drivers of public utility vehicles (PUVs) worry about the impact of higher fares on the riding public.While some drivers received it as good news as it would let them bring home higher income to their families at the end of the day, some commuters said it is not fair to increase fares at this time.Paul Purgatorio, 35, a traditional jeepney driver plying the Labangon-SM City route, sai
THE Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022, called on employers and workers to mutually adopt telecommuting programs to help sustain the country’s economic recovery, as it has expanded the work-from-home scheme.Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma signed Department Order 237, which contains the revised implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the telecommuting law, or Republic Act 11165.The revised rules were the result of almost two months of consultations with co
AN ANTI-ILLEGAL drugs operation in Sitio Chicosan in Barangay Tisa, Cebu City on Friday night, September 16, 2022, resulted in the arrest of 49-year-old Modesto Ocaba, a resident of Sitio Mangga in the same barangay.Ocaba yielded shabu worth P340,000, based on the standard drug price, when he was frisked by an operative of the Drug Enforcement Group Central Visayas. (BBT)
A GROUP of young individuals from Alegria town, Cebu represented their hometown at the Robinsons Galleria Cebu for the R’Cebu Trade Exhibit 2022 on Sept. 9-11.The exhibit featured local government units belonging to the seventh legislative district of Cebu Province and it carried the theme “Dasig ug Pagsalig.” The event promoted local food kiosks and presented district festival dancers and activities.The young participants from Alegria were hand-picked personalities with ages ranging from 13 to
OPERATIVES of the Police Drug Enforcement Group in Central Visayas (PDEG 7) seized illegal drugs worth P340,000 during a raid in Sitio Chicos in Barangay Tisa, Cebu City on Friday night, September 16, 2022.The amount was based on the standard drug price.The operation, which took place around 9:45 p.m., was led by Lieutenant Samuel Evalle, PDEG 7 team leader.Their target, Modesto Ocaba, a 49-year-old resident of Sitio Mangga in the barangay, was placed under arrest.Evalle said they placed Ocaba u