Sarah Everard Murder Case: Accused Cop Sentenced To Life Imprisonment

Wayne Couzens, ex-London cop accused in the Sarah Everard murder case, was sentenced to life imprisonment without a parole possibility in the United Kingdom, reports said Thursday. Recognising the incident from earlier this year as "devastating, tragic and wholly brutal," the court held the late Everard as a "blameless victim of a grotesque executed series of offenses."

In March 2021, 33-year-old Everard went missing in London. It was reported Couzens arrested her on the false pretext of COVID-19 protocol violations, took her to a secluded area where he raped her and strangled her to death. He was arrested from his home in Kent and pleaded guilty to the charges. More on the case.

"She lost her life because Wayne Couzens wanted to satisfy his perverted desires," CNN quoted Everard's mother as saying. "He treated my daughter as if she was nothing and disposed of her as if she was rubbish. I am haunted by the horror of it."

Sarah Everard Murder Case: Rare, Hard Punishment For Accused

A whole-life order in the UK is very exceptional, that too without the possibility of parole, and only given in select cases. As per official UK data this year, there are at present only 60 life-term prisoners.

Lord Justice Fulford, presiding over the court proceedings in Everard's case, observed "Couzens used his position as a police officer to coerce her into car." Additionally, he recognised the accused was "hunting a lone female" and had planned his gruesome crime in much detail, as per the BBC. 

Legal counsel for Couzens argued against a life-term for his client, who he said was full of "self-loathing" and did not have any previous history as a convict for such violent crimes.

The Everard rape and murder case prompted much outrage in the UK this year, leading protesting citizens to raise the issue of women's safety. Statements from political figures, including one from Prime Minister Boris Johnson, recognised the severity of the gender crime.

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