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The body of Sarah Everard was identified through her dental records after her remains were found inside a builder’s bag, it emerged in court.
Serving Metropolitan Police Constable Wayne Couzens, 48, was remanded in custody on Saturday after being charged with kidnapping and murdering the 33-year-old marketing executive.
Westminster Magistrates Court heard that Ms Everard went missing while walking home from a friend's flat in south London on March 3 and her body was found hidden in the bag in an area of woodland in Ashford, Kent, on Wednesday.
Couzens arrived at the central London court in a large blue police van from HMP Wandsworth, stepping into the dock around 10.30am.
The firearms officer, who works in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, wore a grey tracksuit and appeared to have a red wound on the top of his forehead.
Wearing a grey prison issue tracksuit he hung his head in the dock and struggled as he was asked to confirm his name, date of birth and address and was asked to speak up by Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring.
Artist's drawing of Wayne Couzens (middle) appearing at Westminster Magistrates Court - Julia Quenzler / SWNS.COM
Prosecutor Zoe Martin said Ms Everard had visited a friend in the Clapham Junction area on March 3 and left at around 9pm to make the approximately 2.5-mile journey home.
She called her boyfriend for around 14 minutes and there had been no further activity on her mobile phone since then, with the phone yet to be recovered.
It is not clear whether the phone had been switched off or run out of battery, Ms Martin added.
Ms Everard was caught alone on CCTV at quarter past nine, seen again on camera at 9.28pm, and later caught on the camera of a marked police car at 9.32pm.
At around 9.35pm, a bus camera captured two figures on Poynders Road and a white Vauxhall Astra with its hazard lights flashing.
Another bus camera captured the same car with both front doors open. The registration of the vehicle – later confirmed to be a car hired in Dover – was captured and tracked by police as it left London towards Kent.
Mr Goldspring remanded Couzens in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, March 16.
The Metropolitan Police said Couzens, of Deal, in Kent, was taken to hospital for a second time in 48 hours on Friday for treatment to another head injury sustained in custody, before he was discharged and returned to a police station.
The force said that Couzens joined the force in 2018, most recently serving in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, an armed unit responsible for guarding the Parliamentary estate and embassies in London. Scotland Yard said he was not on duty at the time of Ms Everard's disappearance.
https://sg.yahoo.com/news/police-officer-charged-sarah-everard-103628540.html
