The killer was up early on Mar 8 - the day he was schedueld back at work for a first aid refresher.
He went to a petrol station, a McDonald's drive-thru in Folkestone and then a Homebase to collect a flat-packed garden trolley from the “Click & Collect” desk.
At 10:10am he gave the Seat an exterior clean in an automatic car wash in Folkestone before driving around various parts of Kent.
He was sent a message asking if he was coming in, but he did not reply immediately.
At 4pm the defendant told his colleague by text that he was sick and "send my apologies to the instructor, the system obviously hasn’t updated".
But the defendant was in fact about to drive to London in the Seat to return items to his police locker that he had used and had with him when he kidnapped Sarah Everard.
He pulled up at the Lillie Road base in the Seat after paying the £12.50 congestion charge.
Couzens entered his police base on foot via the rear gate, which was unusual as pedestrians would normally use the front entrance.
He was carrying a rucksack over his shoulder which clearly contained items, the court heard.
His entry to the rear entrance of the base was logged at 6:52pm. At about 7:05pm the defendant approached the base Sergeant at Lillie Road and told him he wanted to hand in his “blue card” - his firearms authorisation card.
There was no requirement for him to have attended the base in order to do this and PS Davies’ remote suspension of his armoury pass would have stopped him drawing a firearm in any event.
Mr Little, prosecuting, said: "At 7:10pm PS Davies was notified that the defendant had let himself in using his warrant card and had handed in his blue authorised firearms officer card.
"Concerned that he should be in a firearms base at all, PS Davies made immediate enquiries but was told the defendant had already left.
"The defendant’s arrival and departure from Lillie Road were captured on CCTV. Approximately 11 minutes of his time there is unaccounted for.
"He was last seen heading in the direction of the part of the base where the changing rooms and his locker was located."
Couzens then travelled home to Deal via Central London and the A2.
The following day, on Mar 9, Couzens was back at Homebase in Folkestone, carrying a white box.
He returned the flat-pack trolley collected the day before as the base was missing and he collected a replacement.
The transaction took about 10 minutes and the member of staff who dealt with it thought there was nothing untoward about the defendant’s demeanour during their interaction.
The defendant then left the shop and returned home to Deal, where he seems to have remained for the rest of the day.
The returned trolley was put into a waste-disposal skip at Homebase. It has since been recovered by the police.
It has been forensically examined, but there are no significant findings – it is not known whether the purchase of this item was connected with any future plans of the defendant to further dispose of or conceal Sarah Everard’s remains.
The key breakthrough for police was the hire car. By now, the news of Sarah Everard's disappearance was already seismic.
CCTV from the Route 157 bus was received by the police investigating Sarah Everard’s disappearance.
And immediate analysis of that CCTV and ANPR records led the police to identify the Vauxhall Crossland as the vehicle of interest seen on Poynders Road parked next to two figures, one of which matched the description of Sarah Everard.
This led them to make enquiries at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and to identify the defendant through the details held there. Research relating to the telephone number he had supplied to Enterprise quickly identified that he was a serving Metropolitan Police officer.
Officers first attended 89 Freemens Way, Deal at approximately 5:45pm but they did not approach or enter the address.
At 7.11pm on Tuesday, Mar 9, the defendant’s Galaxy Note 10+ 5 G mobile telephone handset was re-set to factory conditions by the defendant and set-up with an email address
simpsonbanditsfo@gmail.com.
This is not something that he had ever done before on that device and it was therefore unusual.
At 7.45pm, two police officers - DI Harvey and DS Kerr - knocked on the front door of the Couzens family home.
They identified themselves as police officers and took the defendant by both arms and walked him into the living room, followed by Pc Sales, whose bodyworn camera was activated throughout.
Couzens offered no resistance. He was handcuffed, arrested by PC Sales on suspicion of the kidnap of Sarah Everard and cautioned.
He was searched and his mobile telephone was seized from the pocket of his shorts, along with a Homebase receipt for the exchange of the garden mesh cart
An extensive search of 89 Freemens Way began. Whilst other officers spoke to Couzens' wife and took care of the children - who were also present in the house - between 7:51pm and 8:30pm, DI Harvey and DS Kerr conducted an urgent interview in order to try and ascertain the whereabouts of Sarah Everard.
Couzens was shown a photograph of Sarah Everard and asked if he knew her.
At first, he said he did not know her, had not personally met her and only knew of her disappearance from what he had seen on the news.
He said: "No, why would I have personal interactions with her?"
Sarah Everard murder: Wayne Couzens 'may have used Covid rules to arrest and kidnap victim'
