Demonstrators gather outside court as ex-police officer who kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard faces sentence

Sarah Everard was kidnapped by Wayne Couzens in a “fake Covid arrest” with handcuffs before he went on to rape and murder her, a court has heard.

Demonstrators formed outside the court holding signs reading “no justice no peace” and “Met Police - blood on your hands”.

Couzens, 48, was a serving PC with the Metropolitan Police when he snatched Ms Everard as she walked home in Clapham, south London, on the evening of 3 March.

At the start of his two-day sentencing at London’s Old Bailey, the court heard how Ms Everard was the victim of “deception, kidnap, rape, strangulation, fire”.