Sarah Everard was killed by a police officer. Her mum is 'still tormented' by her final hours.

On Wednesday, March 3, 2021, British woman Sarah Everard was just trying to walk home.

She'd left a friend's apartment in London's Clapham, and called her partner as she walked the 5km towards home in the nearby suburb of Brixton. She hung up at 9:28pm.

Wayne Couzens, then an off-duty officer in London's Metropolitan Police Service, abducted, raped and murdered the 33-year-old that night.

Couzens tricked Everard into thinking he could arrest her for breaking COVID-19 lockdown rules. He told her he had a warrant card proving he was an officer, handcuffed her and put her in his car.

To a witness in a passing vehicle, it looked like an arrest by an undercover officer.

Everard's family believe she never would have got in Couzens' car if he hadn't pretended to be a plain clothes officer, using his knowledge of policing to falsely arrest her.

Couzens was sentenced to life without parole for Everard's murder and later convicted of three separate indecent exposure incidents, and pleaded guilty to a fourth left on file, which took place while he was in the police force but before the murder.

Four years on, Sarah's mother, Susan Everard, has spoken about how she is "still tormented" by the horror of her daughter's final moments before she was killed.

Watch: Investigators speak about the case and its impact. Post continues below.

Last year, the first part of a damning inquiry into Everard's murder was finalised — and the findings from the report were even worse than many expected.

The Angiolini Inquiry identified at least five serious incidents by Couzens that were not reported to police. Had more been done, Sarah's family believe she'd still be alive.

This week, the inquiry's second report issued 13 recommendations, calling for the prevention focus to be shifted to focus squarely on identifying and targeting the predatory men who commit sexually motivated crimes against women.

Susan said Sarah's family lived with an "overwhelming sense of loss and what might have been".

"I read that you shouldn't let a tragedy define you, but I feel that Sarah's death is such a big part of me that I'm surprised there is no outer sign of it, no obvious mark of grief," she said in a foreword to the inquiry.

"I have been changed by it, but there is nothing to see. Outwardly, we live our normal lives, but there is an inner sadness."

Susan spoke powerfully of how the future she once imagined for her daughter had been ripped from their lives.

"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," she said.

"Sarah will always be missing and I will always long for her. I go through a turmoil of emotions — sadness, rage, panic, guilt and numbness. They used to come all in one day but, as time goes by, they are more widely spaced and, to some extent, time blunts the edges."

Sarah Everard. Image: Supplied/Facebook.

Susan is still haunted by her daughter's final moments.

"I am not yet at the point where happy memories of Sarah come to the fore," she said.

"When I think of her, I can't get past the horror of her last hours. I am still tormented by the thought of what she endured. We find we still appreciate the lovely things of life, but, without Sarah, there is no unbridled joy."

Each day, she shoulders the heaviness of grief.

"And grief is unpredictable — it sits there quietly only to rear up suddenly and pierce our hearts," Susan said.

"They say that the last stage of grief is acceptance. I am not sure what that means. I am accustomed to Sarah no longer being with us, but I rage against it."

A second report from part two of the inquiry will be published next year, looking at whether there is a risk of issues from the first phase happening again, such as failures in police vetting and police culture.

A third part of the inquiry will examine the career and conduct of former police officer David Carrick, who was handed 36 life sentences in 2023 after being identified as a serial rapist.

A damning inquiry.

Part one of the Angiolini Inquiry published 347 pages of findings detailing evidence of Couzens' "preference for violent and extreme pornography and history of alleged sexual offending" dating back nearly 20 years.

There was evidence of an alleged "very serious sexual assault of a child barely into her teens" when Couzens was in his 20s, before becoming a police officer.

Overall, his crimes were "the culmination of a trajectory of sexually motivated behaviour and offending", including indecent exposure, the sexual assault on a child, sexual touching and sharing unsolicited photos of his genitals.

There were allegations Couzens possessed indecent images of children. Couzens was also "creepy" towards colleagues long before Everard's murder. So much so, he was nicknamed "the rapist" at his place of work.

Couzens failed vetting to join Kent Police, but was allowed to work with the force as a special constable anyway.

In 2018, he applied to the Metropolitan Police and was later issued with a gun in a flawed process that missed information about a June 2015 indecent assault allegation.

He should never have been a police officer, the inquiry noted, and opportunities were missed to stop him or properly investigate claims made against him.

The report also flagged the possibility of more victims of Couzens who are yet to come forward.

Sarah's family are still mourning the future she should have had. Image: Facebook.

The inquiry's chair Lady Elish Angiolini made 16 recommendations calling for dramatic change to police vetting procedures, culture and approaches to investigating indecent exposure.

She confirmed that red flags and opportunities to stop Couzens were missed.

"He used his position as a police officer to impress or intimidate people he met. Couzens should never have been a police officer, but opportunities to deny him that privilege were missed," Lady Angiolini said.

The Metropolitan Police accepted responsibility for their role in this case, as have Kent Police. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley noted the scale of reform needed, saying change "will take time and it is not yet complete".

"The majority of my Met colleagues share my determination to reform by both confronting the risk posed by predatory men in policing, and also, improving our protection of women and children across London," he said.

Chief Constable Gavin Stephens of the National Police Chiefs' Council, which represents force leaders, also said the inquiry's report was a "glowing red signal to all police officers".

"We collectively will not stop until the public, especially women and girls, get the policing they deserve and confidence in our role as protectors is rebuilt," he said, describing Everard's murder as "a watershed moment".

Everard's family said warning signs were "overlooked" throughout Couzens' policing career, and more should have been done to not only protect their daughter but all women and children around him.

"As a family, the inquiry has helped us, not just because of its significant findings, but because its implementation made us feel that Sarah's life was valued and her memory honoured," they said in a statement.

"Her death has not been dismissed as a tragic event to be acknowledged with sympathy and then forgotten — questions have been raised and actions taken to investigate how this tragedy happened.

"It is obvious that Wayne Couzens should never have been a police officer. Whilst holding a position of trust, in reality, he was a serial sex offender.

"We believe that Sarah died because he was a police officer — she would never have got into a stranger's car."

This article was published in March 2024 and has been updated with new information.

Feature Image: Supplied/Facebook.