GUILTY UK - Sarah Everard, 33, London, Clapham Common area, 3 Mar 2021 *Awaiting Sentencing*, #15

[johnlair]

The times stated that when the Car was caught on Dashcam with both doors open it was on the pavement could he have positioned it in such a way that walking along the pavement you could not have got past and been forced to walk around on the road he could have then if he had the front seat down quickly subdued her maybe using a taser and bunged her in the back seat..

 

[Marantz4250b]

Holy ****, I didn't even think of that.
Brilliant mind. Yes, it would save him bludgeoning her and risking blood splatters in the hire car.

One thing.....are police officers allowed to take their tasers home with them? Or do they have to hand them in at the station before they go home?

UK police are absolutely not allowed to take tasers, or firearms, home with them. Tazers are subject to control as a Prohibited Weapon under section.5 of the Firearms Act 1968. They cannot be owned or possessed without authority from the Home Secretary. Private individuals never get such permission. The police are allowed to possess them but only as part of their official duties.

I very much doubt that he used a taser or similar. If there were evidence that he did then I think he would also have been charged with an offence under S.5(1)(b) of the Act, any weapon of whatever description designed or adapted for the discharge of any noxious liquid, gas or other thing; but I'm not aware that he was.

 

[Marantz4250b]

There is still the possible scenario and I know people are not going to like it that Him and Sarah may have had a fling together.... She was definitely his type in looks and he was in a professional exiting job maybe before she was with Josh they had a one night stand or something and He just couldn't get her out of his mind...was obsessed... Just because people say they didn't know each other how do we really know this..

I'm just trying to think how he got her into the car and drove off towards Kent.. This bit bothers me because from her description she seems quite a strong lady that would have put up a fight did he have any marks on him...

There's so many different scenarios I think until more information comes out it will be hard to piece it all together.. We need to see that bus Cam footage..

Anyone know if this was his car... it looks. like an Astra to me with it's black mirrors.. driver looks bald too and is in the area the dog walkers that the police wanted to talk to was

That was comprehensively dismissed at the time he entered his guilty plea; it was stated very clearly that he did not know know her, had never met her and had absolutely no knowledge of her existence until he abducted her. It was completely random.

 

[Newthoughts]

As am I ... I spent night after night trawling through CCTV and evidence trying to find the answers his conviction only seems to have bought more answers to the table for me personally. But if I am going to investigate something I can't allow my personal feelings override any possibilities... I have to follow each different scenario regardless of my feelings on WC...
And one of the biggest questions for me is that bus cam footage that it doesn't seem forced or rushed in any way.. both doors open on a busy street... and the timing of it.. Whatever he said I think it made her at ease.. And I think if he was saying I'm a police officer you shouldn't be out etc she would not have just got in that car... I don't know but I'm just going over all scenarios including ones people don't want to hear.

He was a serving police officer. He would have had a completely legitimate warrant card to prove it.

It was the middle of lockdown when police officers were questioning people they wouldn't normally be questioning. If he'd been on duty he could have legitimately questioned her about why she was out, where she'd been and where she was going because people were being fined for breaking lockdown. She would have no reason to know he wasn't on duty. She was behaving legally

She was a law abiding citizen who'd probably never had contact with the police before. So if he asked her to sit in his car whilst he checked her story I imagine she'd have done so. I would have done.

Not only have the CPS said there was no link - I can't see how any link would have occurred. Different worlds, different life stages.

 

[Marantz4250b]

I'm sure he must of had her with some kind of weapon - knife/gun etc to make her comply, she must have been terrified.

There is nothing which has been said which supports that though. If he used his police credentials to lure her they may have been a long way from anywhere before she knew anything was "off" with the guy.

 

[MsBetsy]

All I have read is in that 1st interview where he told the Romanian Gang story he was shown a picture of her and denied ever seeing her before...
Which most killers do unless faced with hard evidence.

Police have stated that Couzens did not know Sarah and believe he was "trawling for a victim" when he spotted her on the A205 South Circular. They suspect he showed her his warrant card to give her the false impression she could trust him.

If they had known each other, I think they would have uncovered evidence from the phone and computer data and found a connection.

IMO

 

[Marantz4250b]

Yes, here in the UK (and I'm sure many other countries outside the USA), tasers are classed as dangerous weapons and are banned. Not for sale or use by the public, and even being caught in possession of one would probably be the same punishment as carrying a knife or gun, both of which are illegal also.

You are correct. The Firearms Act in it's interpretation section (S.57) defines anything prohibited under Section.5 as a firearm in law regardless of what it is. Hence, a taser is a firearm in law.

 

[CptShadow]

It does keep coming back to the central conundrum: at what point would she have realised something was 'off'?

Yes, she may have got into the car willingly while he checked out her story. I think many of us may have done that, if instructed.

If he had then said, 'ok I'm taking you to a police station for further questioning' I suspect alarm bells would have rung. That would have seemed excessive for a fairly minor lockdown breach.

If had said, 'I'll drop you off at your flat', that may be more understandable. But what isn't understandable is why nothing happened (as far as we know) at the point at which he clearly wasn't taking her to the flat. At that point, she could have fought back. Of course, for all we know, she did - and was subdued at that moment.

He either had to subdue her as soon as she was in the car, or very quickly into the journey - because even if she got in willingly, and even if she was comfortable at first, she must have realised something odd was happening fairly quickly.

The tazer situation does seem unlikely, and we'd possibly have heard about this if such an event had been uncovered. But is it remotely possible that he had access to an *unauthorised* tazer, and that he used that? If her body was so badly damaged that evidence of tazering couldn't be ascertained, and if he hasn't admitted to it, and if it wasn't caught on camera, and if he successfully disposed of the evidence - then presumably they couldn't charge him for it.

But that doesn't mean it didn't happen. And in some ways, it seems less unlikely than "she got into the car willingly and remained compliant all the way to Kent." JMO.

 

[Marantz4250b]

If the CPS is so adamant they did not know each other all they have to do is give us a reason why... People who are having an affair don't tend to shout it out as announcements to friends and family so I'd like to know with a missing phone most likely burned and a empty phone and WC being the only one who knows the truth but is being silent How do they know this

Sorry, no they don't. It's none of anyone else's business and the CPS are not required to prove a negative to keep the armchair sleuths content. If there were the slightest chance that they knew each other there is no way that the CPS would have made the very unequivocal statements that have. In any event, it would probably have made the case easier for the prosecution if they were seeing each other or knew one another in some capacity.

I don't think there is any debate that they did not know each other at all.

 

[Italia]

He prob just got out showed card, talked about Covid/ danger in area , said pls sit in car whilst I take details / fill a form and that was that

 

[Italia]

double post

 

[Dotta]

It does keep coming back to the central conundrum: at what point would she have realised something was 'off'?

Yes, she may have got into the car willingly while he checked out her story. I think many of us may have done that, if instructed.

If he had then said, 'ok I'm taking you to a police station for further questioning' I suspect alarm bells would have rung. That would have seemed excessive for a fairly minor lockdown breach.

If had said, 'I'll drop you off at your flat', that may be more understandable. But what isn't understandable is why nothing happened (as far as we know) at the point at which he clearly wasn't taking her to the flat. At that point, she could have fought back. Of course, for all we know, she did - and was subdued at that moment.

He either had to subdue her as soon as she was in the car, or very quickly into the journey - because even if she got in willingly, and even if she was comfortable at first, she must have realised something odd was happening fairly quickly.

The tazer situation does seem unlikely, and we'd possibly have heard about this if such an event had been uncovered. But is it remotely possible that he had access to an *unauthorised* tazer, and that he used that? If her body was so badly damaged that evidence of tazering couldn't be ascertained, and if he hasn't admitted to it, and if it wasn't caught on camera, and if he successfully disposed of the evidence - then presumably they couldn't charge him for it.

But that doesn't mean it didn't happen. And in some ways, it seems less unlikely than "she got into the car willingly and remained compliant all the way to Kent." JMO.

Of course! She must have been incapacitated early on. I think it happened as soon as she entered the car. Any woman would fight like crazy if a madman was driving her into the night God knows where! Lunging at him even if it might cause an accident. It is my opinion. Was it a taser or sth else? We will never know.

 

[Marantz4250b]

It does keep coming back to the central conundrum: at what point would she have realised something was 'off'?

Yes, she may have got into the car willingly while he checked out her story. I think many of us may have done that, if instructed.

If he had then said, 'ok I'm taking you to a police station for further questioning' I suspect alarm bells would have rung. That would have seemed excessive for a fairly minor lockdown breach.

If had said, 'I'll drop you off at your flat', that may be more understandable. But what isn't understandable is why nothing happened (as far as we know) at the point at which he clearly wasn't taking her to the flat. At that point, she could have fought back. Of course, for all we know, she did - and was subdued at that moment.

He either had to subdue her as soon as she was in the car, or very quickly into the journey - because even if she got in willingly, and even if she was comfortable at first, she must have realised something odd was happening fairly quickly.

The tazer situation does seem unlikely, and we'd possibly have heard about this if such an event had been uncovered. But is it remotely possible that he had access to an *unauthorised* tazer, and that he used that? If her body was so badly damaged that evidence of tazering couldn't be ascertained, and if he hasn't admitted to it, and if it wasn't caught on camera, and if he successfully disposed of the evidence - then presumably they couldn't charge him for it.

But that doesn't mean it didn't happen. And in some ways, it seems less unlikely than "she got into the car willingly and remained compliant all the way to Kent." JMO.

But he may have said I'm part of a surveillance team and someone is following you, please get in or some variation thereof? We simply do not know. What would most women do when spun that line and shown a Warrant Card?

 

[Dotta]

But he may have said I'm part of a surveillance team and someone is following you, please get in or some variation thereof? We simply do not know. What would most women do when spun that line and shown a Warrant Card?

I would never get into the car. But thats me - always a rebel

 

[Sherlockhames]

Also - ballsy of him to show her his warrant card unless he always planned to kill her.

Had he planned to kidnap and rape but always thought he would let her go would he seriously have been so dim as to show her a warrant card? When reporting her ordeal the first thing she would say would be that she was attacked by someone who was/posing as a police offer.

My instinct is still possibly his night time activities were a compartmentalised part of his life. So he wouldn’t take the risk of identifying himself to her.

Unless he really is that arrogant/stupid as to think as a police officer he could have done what he was planning to do but thought he could get away with it.

So either he did show his card, in which case perhaps he did always plan to kill her (and therefore it is in the interests of the police to at least float that possibility to maximise his sentence given how abhorrent that forward planning really was) or he didn’t show her anything and just overpowered her some other way, very quickly so that once she was in the car she was not in a position to escape.

But they will only know that if he talks. But perhaps he can’t/won’t because that means admitting all of his actions to himself (if he was a true psychopath I don’t think he would have pleaded guilty - he would be revelling in the continued power he still has over the narrative and therefore would want to be in court).

 

[Shewasjustwalkinghome]

I am puzzled by this as well.

Parts make sense cos whilst the hire car could be linked to him very easily if anyone wanted to check - without the bus cam data giving the registration it would never have been linked to Sarah and hence would never have been checked. Without that registration number police would have struggled to get info on that that car and therefore never discovered the link to him

As an police officer I guess he'd be aware of traffic CCTV but less aware of bus timetables, door cameras etc. So I'm guessing he's hoped nothing would pick up the registration in that vicinity.

But if that was the case why bother with the hire car at all? If he wasn't expecting to be caught on camera why not use his own car?

Bizarre

Is the make, model and colour similar to a generic police car?

As afar as I am aware, Sarahs phone is still missing.

I’ve read similar. Sarah was a friend of mine, and my last whatsapp to her on 7th March is still undelivered

 

[CptShadow]

But they will only know that if he talks.

I suppose there's an outside chance that the CCTV shows more than they've said. It all depends on how clear it is. If the could see two figures in the fist image, and the second image showed the Astra with both front doors open - what else did it show? Can we see one or either of them in the car - or an arm or a leg sticking out of the car - etc? I guess they may have specified this already... but perhaps not.

 

[CptShadow]

Sarah was a friend of mine

I'm so very sorry for your loss. May she rest in peace. <3

 

[proclee]

I’m not sure why tasers continuously get brought up, as mentioned before any officer who carries one during their shift has to return it when they clock off.. and tbh it’d be quicker for him to simply punch her (and knock her unconscious) than to attempt to taser her when the affect of a taser lasts for less than a minute. I do also recall an image which someone had managed to find from a traffic camera which was disputed on here with people seeing different things but personally the way I viewed it was that the person in the passenger seat appeared to be slumped against the window.
Also I live in south east London and was regularly in central London for work during all lockdowns and the police were not stopping you (especially if you were alone) to ask where you had been/what you were doing, I do believe though that he stopped her and showed his badge claiming his car had broken down and he’d lost battery on his phone and asking her whether he could use his phone to call his wife or something along those lines, Sarah looks in photos to be kind and trusting and if someone is showing you their badge and asking for help I’m inclined to think she’d agree. I’m not entirely sure how he would then go from that to getting her in the car but up until that point I feel like thats a scenario I could imagine.
JMO of course

 

[Dotta]

Is the make, model and colour similar to a generic police car?


I’ve read similar. Sarah was a friend of mine, and my last whatsapp to her on 7th March is still undelivered

Please, accept my sincerest condolences. We are all here for Sarah and Justice for her. Hugs from Poland.