A NEW documentary by the BBC will focus on “police failings” in the probe of Sarah Everard’s murder by cop Wayne Couzens.
The Met officer carried out a fake arrest to kidnap Sarah, 33, as she walked home from a friend’s home in Clapham, South West London.
Couzens then raped and murdered the marketing executive, whose burnt body was found a week later more than 50 miles away in Kent.
The new documentary looks at the Met’s investigation into Sarah’s murder, how the devastating crime unfolded and its impact.
Told by those closely involved in the case from the outset, many of whom are speaking on camera for the first time, including the Senior Investigating Officer, the Prosecuting Barrister and Sarah’s local MP.
The film is being made by BBC Studios Documentary Unit.
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During the making of the film, the production team was in close contact with Sarah’s parents.
They hope that it will bring increased focus to issues of women’s safety, and abuse of power by police and other in positions of authority.
Emma Loach, BBC Lead Commissioning Editor, Documentaries, said: “The murder of Sarah Everard sent shock waves across the country and ignited an urgent conversation about police failings and violence against women and girls.
“This is an important and timely film and we, like Sarah’s family, hope it will contribute to the ongoing dialogue around the issues raised.”
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Sarah’s murderer is serving his life sentence at HMP Frankland in Durham.
He had previously been locked up at HMP Belmarsh in London.
Ex-cop Couzens pleaded guilty to the murder of Sarah on Friday, July 9, 2021, after having previously pleaded guilty to her kidnap and rape.
Couzens appeared via video link at the Old Bailey as Sarah’s family watched from the public gallery.
Then, on September 30, 2021, Couzens was given a full life sentence for Sarah’s murder and was told that he would die in prison.
Just 61 criminals in the UK have had this sentence imposed, with Couzens being the first British cop to ever receive it.
Lord Justice Fulford explained at the time that the rare sentencing was given due to the fact Couzens had abused his position as a police officer.
The judge said: “Sarah Everard was a wholly blameless victim of a grotesquely executed series of circumstances that culminated in her death and the disposal of her body. She was simply walking home.”
He told how Couzens spent a month travelling from his home in Deal, Kent, to London while hatching a gruesome plan to “hunt a lone female to kidnap and rape”.
Lord Justice Fulford said Couzens carried out “warped, selfish and brutal offending that was both sexual and homicidal”.
Police watchdog hit with 75% rise in complaints
THE police watchdog has been swamped with a 75 per cent rise in complaints about rogue cops following the murder of Sarah Everard.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct got 7,000 referrals from 43 forces in England and Wales in the past year.
That compares to 4,000 a year before off-duty Met cop Wayne Couzens, 51, raped and murdered Sarah, 33, in 2021.
The IOPC has the resources to tackle only 300 cases a year, so the vast majority are passed back to individual police forces to deal with.
Meanwhile it has asked the Government to boost disciplinary hearing powers so dodgy cops can be barred like doctors.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The public put their trust in the police and we expect them to carry out their duties to the highest professional standards.
“We have taken steps to improve the culture within policing and raise standards across the board, including strengthening vetting standards and establishing the Angiolini Inquiry to uncover any systemic issues in policing.
“We are actively working with the IOPC on its funding requirements to ensure it can deliver its core functions.”
He added: “Sarah Everard’s state of mind, and what she had to endure would have been as bleak and agonising as it is possible to imagine.”
In October 2021 it was reported that Couzens had lodged an appeal against his sentence.
His appeal against his whole-life term was rejected by the Court of Appeal in July 2022.
In March 2023 Couzens was sentenced to an additional 19 months in prison for flashing a cyclist while on duty and exposing himself to McDonald‘s staff before he murdered Sarah.
He pleaded guilty to three indecent exposure offences in February 2023.
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McDonald’s staff were left “shaken, upset and angry” over two incidents, which took place on February 14, 2021, and February 27, of Couzens pulling his trousers down whilst paying for his food.
The third indecent exposure offence took place on November 13, 2020, and saw Couzens, who was on duty at the time, step out of a wooded area naked in Deal and perform a sex act on himself as a female cycled past.
Who has been given a whole life order along with Wayne Couzens?
EVIL Wayne Couzens is one of around 70 criminals serving a whole life order in the UK.
The severe sentence is the harshest a judge can impose and means they will never be considered for release unless in exceptional circumstances.
They can only be issued to those who committed their crimes when they were over the age of 21.
Milly Dowler’s killer Levi Bellfield is thought to be the only criminal in UK legal history to be serving two whole life orders – for her murder, the killings of Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange as well as the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy.
Other notorious criminals currently serving whole life orders include:
Rose West
Alongside husband Fred West, Rose was responsible for abducting, torturing, raping and murdering young women over 20 years.
Police uncovered a number of mutilated female bodies in the garden and cellar of the Wests’ Gloucestershire home as others were found buried under the floorboards.
Rose was convicted of 10 murders, including that of her daughter, and sentenced to life.
Her husband Fred, who admitted 12 murders, hanged himself while on remand in prison.
Michael Adebolajo
Micheal Adebolajo was sentenced to whole life imprisonment in 2014 for the the brutal murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby.
Rigby was off duty and returning from Woolwich barracks when he was attacked on 22nd May, 2013.
Adebolajo, alongside his friend, Michael Adebowale ran him down and began stabbing and hacking at Lee’s body with knives and a meat cleaver in an assault so fierce they almost decapitated him.
The pair waited for armed cops to arrive, then charged at the patrol car hoping to be martyred. They were both shot and injured.
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Jonathan Rose
