The detective who led the investigation into Sarah Everard’s homicide has spoken concerning the second she came upon that the primary suspect was a serving police officer.
The revelation got here throughout her first on-camera interview for a brand new BBC documentary concerning the homicide of the advertising government.
The documentary, titled “Sarah Everard: The Search For Justice”, shall be broadcast on BBC One on Tuesday night, simply days after the third anniversary of Sarah’s dying in March 2021.
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In the documentary, Detective Chief Inspector Katherine Goodwin shared that the police found Couzens was suspected of an indecent publicity offence in Kent simply days earlier than they realised he was a serving Metropolitan Police officer.
This discovery got here after CCTV footage confirmed Miss Everard and Couzens subsequent to a automobile, which helped determine him. Miss Goodwin stated: “At that time, Wayne Couzens was a name that meant nothing to any of us. So immediately we start researching the name, also the phone number and the address that had been given when he’d hired the car.”
She added that discovering out he was suspected of indecent publicity “suddenly changed everything, because whilst I might have hoped that Sarah had got into the car with someone she knew, suddenly it was clear to me that she’d got into the car of an alleged sex offender”.
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The officer despatched a group to Couzens’ home in Kent and whereas the police had been on their means, a detective dashed into Miss Goodwin’s workplace, shut the door, and instructed her “you need to hear this”.
A researcher on then instructed her that Couzens was a serving Met officer. Miss Goodwin stated: “I knew that I had to tell my boss and I can just remember the shock of having to just sit on the floor of the office and say to her, ‘You’re not going to believe this, that he’s a police officer’. And then the same questions went through her head as went through my head, ‘Are you sure? ‘.”
Former Met detective Nick Harvey was the primary to query Couvens and remembered the second he came upon the suspect was a serving officer whereas driving to his home. He instructed the documentary: “The gravity of the whole situation then became incredibly clear. You know, the moment I told the team, it just went silent.”
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Mr Harvey knocked on Couvens’ door and stated that when he confirmed his warrant card “he just went grey”. “Just… all the colour just ran out of his face,” he stated.
Police footage within the documentary confirmed Couvens throughout questioning. An officer stated to him: “People trust us to look after them. People trust us to help them. You know, protect and serve, that’s what they say, isn’t it? That’s what we’re here to do. We all took that oath, you included.”
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Couvens didn’t reply and stored his head bowed all through the change.
The new documentary comes out simply after Lady Elish Angiolini’s report stated the cops missed numerous possibilities to cease Couzens.
The report referred to as him a “predatory sex offender and murderer” who ought to by no means have been a cop. It confirmed he had an extended historical past of dangerous stuff going again practically 20 years earlier than what occurred to Miss Everard.
Watch “Sarah Everard: The Search For Justice” on Tuesday from 6am on BBC iPlayer and at 9pm on BBC One.
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