LONDON (Reuters) – A London police officer appeared in court on Saturday for the primary time after being charged with murder in a case that has triggered widespread concern in Britain about ladies’s security.
Wayne Couzens, 48, is charged with the kidnap and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard, who disappeared on the night time of March 3 whereas strolling dwelling in south London after visiting a buddy.
Everard’s stays have been discovered on Wednesday in woodland round 50 miles away in southeast England.
Her killing has introduced an outpouring of non-public accounts from ladies of their very own experiences and fears of strolling streets alone at night time, and requires motion to deal with this.
Couzens, sporting a gray tracksuit, spoke solely to substantiate his identification at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court and stays in custody.
His lawyer didn’t enter a plea to the fees earlier than a fuller court listening to scheduled for Tuesday. Couzens joined London’s Metropolitan Police in 2018 and guarded international embassies earlier than his arrest.
Campaigners had deliberate a vigil to commemorate Everard to happen on Saturday night close to the place she disappeared.
However, organisers cancelled the vigil on Saturday morning after police warned them that they might danger arrest for breaching COVID restrictions on out of doors social gatherings.
“In mild of the dearth of constructive engagement from the Metropolitan Police, we don’t really feel that we are able to in good religion enable tonight’s occasion to go forward,” organisers from the group Reclaim These Streets mentioned in a press release.
Members of the general public laid flowers on Saturday morning on the bandstand in Clapham Common in southwest London, close to the place the vigil had been deliberate to happen.
“We take no pleasure in this occasion being cancelled, however it’s the proper factor to do given the actual and current risk of COVID-19,” Metropolitan Police Commander Catherine Roper mentioned.
Under present COVID guidelines, folks in England are often solely allowed to satisfy outdoor with one individual exterior their family.
Additional reporting by Dylan Martinez; modifying by Angus MacSwan
