By James Simons-
British Police are still questioning a serving officer on suspicion of the murder of Sarah Everard following the discovery of human remains.
The Metropolitan Police on Wednesday night revealed they discovered remains had been found in an area of woodland in Ashford, Kent, by detectives investigating the 33-year-old’s disappearance.
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A significant police presence remained at the site on Thursday morning as detectives continued to investigate. A wide perimeter has been set up around the scene with officers stationed at the entry points.
Wayne Couzens, a serving police officer in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command in his 40’s, had earlier been arrested on suspicion of kidnap and murder. A woman in her 30’s has also been arrested for assisting an offender.
She disappeared after setting out to meet her friend. Marketing executive Ms Everard vanished while walking home from a friend’s flat in south London on 3 March.
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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.
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.
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”.
“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.
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