A Met Police officer who murdered Sarah Everard after kidnapping her under the guise of an arrest has been sentenced to a whole-life prison term.
Wayne Couzens abducted the 33-year-old as she walked home from a friend’s house in Clapham on 3 March.
Ahead of sentencing Couzens, 48, the judge said the case was “devastating, tragic and wholly brutal”.
“You’ve betrayed your family and there’s no evidence of genuine contrition,” he told Couzens.
Lord Justice Fulford described the circumstances of the kidnap, rape and murder as “grotesque”.
He said the seriousness of the case was so “exceptionally high” that it warranted a whole-life order.
“The misuse of a police officer’s role such as occurred in this case in order to kidnap, rape and murder a lone victim is of equal seriousness as a murder for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause,” he told the Old Bailey.
