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03rd Oct 2022

Sarah Everard’s murderer facing court over flashing charges

Ellen Fitzpatrick

*This article contains references to sexual assault, rape, and kidnap. 

He is currently in jail for murder.

Sarah Everard’s murderer Wayne Couzens appeared in court yesterday over charges of flashing.

In a court hearing at the Old Bailey in London, the 49 year old is now accused of two counts of indecent exposure which occurred before the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah, according to The Daily Mail.

Couzens allegedly drove pantless through Dover in Kent in June 2015 and he was again accused of exposing himself to a female cyclist in November 2020.

Appearing by video link from jail in court, he was asked not to enter pleas.

The case has now been adjourned until November 1st when a legal argument is due to take place.

The former police officer has already pleaded not guilty to four other counts of indecent exposure, which relate to different alleged incidents at a fast food restaurant in Kent last year on January 30th and February 6th and then again on February 14th and February 27th.

Sarah, a 33-year-old marketing executive, was murdered while walking home from a friend’s home in Clapham, south London, in March of last year.

She was reported missing after she didn’t return to her home in Brixton Hill on the night of March 3. Couzens, a Metropolitan Police officer, was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and murder the following week, on March 9. Everard’s remains were discovered in a Kent woodland the next day.

He had initially pled guilty to rape and kidnapping and took responsibility for Everard’s death. He later pled guilty to murder.

Everard’s death sparked nationwide protests across the UK concerning the safety of women on the streets. A vigil for Sarah in Clapham Commons gained international interest after Met Police used force on a number of attendees. 

The former British police officer was handed a whole life term last year for the rape and murder of the 33-year-old, which is the first time in British history that a sentence like this has been imposed for a single murder of an adult.

Appealing the sentence, Couzens‘ lawyers argued he deserved “decades in jail” but felt the severity of the sentence was extreme.

Chief Justice Burnett dismissed the bid, saying, according to RTE: “The issue at the heart of the appeal, is whether this murder, with its unique features, justified the judge’s overall conclusion that it merited a whole life order. We have concluded that it does, albeit we would, with respect, arrive at this conclusion by a different route from the judge.”

The judge went on to say that his sentence would be a minimum term of 30 years, noting that due to the severity of the crime, “a whole life order rather than a minimum term order should be made.”