BRITAIN’S most senior police officer has praised Sarah Everard’s family on the fifth anniversary of her murder.
Sarah, 33, was grabbed by serving Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens as she walked home from a friend’s house in Clapham, South London, on March 3, 2021 then raped and killed.
Couzens was given a whole-life jail term following his Old Bailey trial that September.
Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: “On the day I heard what he had done, I felt devastated for the immense harm his actions caused to the trust that underpins our relationship with the communities we serve.
“What he did shook policing to its core.
“It made decent, dedicated officers and staff across the country furious that one of our own could commit such a monstrous crime.
“We will always be deeply sorry.
“For the unimaginable harm done to Sarah.
“For the trauma endured by her family — who have shown extraordinary dignity in the face of unbearable grief.
“And for the profound damage inflicted on the trust Londoners should be able to place in their police service.”
Last December Sarah’s mother Susan said that more than four years on from her daughter’s murder, “the shock of Sarah’s death has diminished but we are left with an overwhelming sense of loss and of what might have been.
Mrs Everard added: “All the happy, ordinary things of life have been stolen from Sarah and from us…
“There will be no wedding, no grandchildren, no family celebrations with everyone there. Sarah will always be missing and I will always long for her.”
