Police are continuing to question a serving officer on suspicion of the murder of Sarah Everard following the discovery of human remains.
The Metropolitan Police on Wednesday night revealed remains had been found in an area of woodland in Ashford, Kent, by detectives investigating the 33-year-old’s disappearance.
Wayne Couzens, a serving police officer in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, had earlier been arrested on suspicion of kidnap and murder.
The police force said the arrested officer’s main job was uniformed patrol of diplomatic premises, but would not specify where he had worked. He was not on duty at the time of Ms Everard’s disappearance.
The diplomatic protection squad is responsible for guarding the parliamentary estate including Downing Street and the Palace of Westminster, as well as embassies in London.
Serving Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens has been arrested over the disappearance of Sarah Everard
(SWNS)
The officer, in his 40s, was also arrested over a separate allegation of indecent exposure.
A woman in her 30s has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.
A breakthrough in the investigation reportedly may have come from a CCTV camera on a bus travelling along the route where Ms Everard disappeared, according to The Telegraph, however this has not been confirmed by police.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick sought to reassure the public in the wake of Wednesday’s developments, saying “it is thankfully incredibly rare for a woman to be abducted from our streets”.
She added: “But I completely understand that despite this, women in London and the wider public – particularly those in the area where Sarah went missing – will be worried and may well be feeling scared.”
Ms Dick said the news that a Metropolitan Police officer had been arrested in connection with the investigation had “sent waves of shock and anger through the public and the whole of the Met”.
Sarah Everard was wearing the same green coat as in this photo at the time she disappeared
(PA)
“I speak on behalf of all my colleagues in the Met when I say we are utterly appalled at this dreadful news,” she said. “Our job is to patrol the streets and to protect people.”
Investigators are continuing to work “around the clock” on what Ms Dick described as a “very fast moving” case.
The remains have not yet been identified and it could take some time to do so, she added.
People living around Clapham and Tulse Hill can expect to see increased police patrols in the area.
As well as the search of the woodland in Ashford, over the course of Wednesday officers also searched a property in Deal, Kent, where multiple cars were taken away by investigators.
A neighbour in the road said a police officer lived there with his “chatty” wife and two children.
Police at the disused Great Chart Golf & Leisure Country Club in Kent on Thursday after human remains were found in woodland in the search for missing Sarah Everard
(REUTERS)
Marketing executive Ms Everard vanished while walking home from a friend’s flat in south London on 3 March.
Ms Everard is thought to have walked through Clapham Common towards her house in Brixton – a journey which should have taken about 50 minutes.
She was last captured on a doorbell camera walking along the A205 Poynders Road towards Tulse Hill at about 9.30pm on the night she went missing.
A vigil titled “Reclaim these streets” has been organised on Facebook and is due to take place at Clapham Common bandstand at 6pm on Saturday evening.
Organisers said: “It’s wrong that the response to violence against women requires women to behave differently. In Clapham, police told women not to go out at night this week. Women are not the problem.
“We’ve all been following the tragic case of Sarah Everard over the last week. This is a vigil for Sarah, but also for all women who feel unsafe, who go missing from our streets and who face violence every day.”
Additional reporting by PA
