Wayne Couzens caught on video telling police he kidnapped Sarah Everard for gang to ‘pay debts’

The killer spun a web of lies about owing money after ‘ripping off’ an escort

Bodycam footage shows how Wayne Couzens lied to detectives about a gang pressuring him to kidnap Sarah Everard, days after he abducted, raped and killed her.

The Metropolitan Police officer was in court for a two-day sentencing hearing after he plead guilty to of murdering the 33-year-old earlier this year.

The video played at the Old Bailey was recorded when officers raided his home in Deal, Kent, on 9 March, and questioned him in his living room.

It shows how Couzens, handcuffed and sitting on his sofa, claimed to the detectives – when they showed him a picture of her – that he did not know who Ms Everard was.

Couzens then backtracked soon after with an elaborate story involving Romanian gangsters.

He spun a web of lies about him being pressured by an Eastern European gang to kidnap Ms Everard.

Couzens, a 48-year-old married father-of-two, said they threatened to harm his family if he did not “pick up girls and give them to them” after he said he tried to “rip off” one of their sex workers.

In court, it emerged that Couzens used the Covid pandemic emergency police powers of the time to “arrest” Ms Everard – who was walking home from a friend’s house in Clapham, south London – before ordering her to get into his car, and raping and killing her.

It also emerged that he burned her body in a refrigerator in an area of woodland he owned near Ashford, Kent, and dumped her remains in a nearby pond.

But, in the video, he tells police that after he kidnapped Ms Everard and was driving in Maidstone that , and that the gang in another vehicle signalled to him.

He added: “Three guys got out [a car], opened my door, opened that door and pushed me out against the front of the car, took the girl, drove off, that’s it.

“So I’m here, I’m off work with stress because I’m here to protect my family. I want to be here 24/7 for my family. They come for my family. I’ve got nothing. I’ve got no choice.”

Couzens was later taken to Wandsworth Police Station where he repeatedly tried to self-harm and was put under constant watch. He also declined to provide DNA samples, and was found to have wiped his phone of all its data.

Mr Justice Fulford has said he will sentence Couzens tomorrow (Thursday 30 September) at around noon.