A British cop on Friday pleaded guilty to murdering Sarah Everard after snatching her off a London street and raping her.
Wayne Couzens — a member of Scotland Yard’s armed Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command unit — had already admitted at an earlier hearing to kidnapping and raping the 33-year-old marketing executive.
The 48-year-old London cop entered a guilty plea to murder Friday at London’s Central Criminal Court, appearing by video link from Belmarsh high-security prison.
Bearded and wearing a blue sweatshirt, he sat with his head bowed and answered “Guilty, ma’am” when asked how he pleaded.
His guilty pleas represented “truly genuine guilt and remorse for what he did,” his lawyer, James Sturman, told the court.
“As he put it to us this morning, he will bear this burden for the rest of his life, and he deserves to — his words, ‘and I deserve to.’
“He accepts the victims in this case are the Everard family and friends, not him,” Sturman told the court.
Couzens has yet to reveal where he raped and killed Everard, whose disappearance on March 3 sparked a national reckoning on women’s safety in the UK, with royal Kate Middleton among those leaving flowers.
“We still do not know what drove him to commit this appalling crime against a stranger,” prosecutor Carolyn Oakley said.
“Today is not the day for hearing the facts about what happened to Sarah. Today is a day to remember Sarah, and our thoughts remain with her family and friends.”
Couzens is due to be sentenced during a two-day hearing that starts Sept. 29.
Everard, 33, was abducted as she walked home from a friend’s house in south London on March 3, her final image caught on grainy security camera footage.
Her body was later found about 50 miles away in woodland in Kent. A post-mortem last month concluded she died from compression of the neck.
She had never met her killer before that night, prosecutor Tom Little said, explaining they were “total strangers.”
Couzens joined London’s Metropolitan Police in 2018 and had most recently served in the specialist armed unit responsible for guarding embassies in the capital and Parliament.
“All of us in the Met are sickened, angered and devastated by this man’s truly dreadful crimes. Everyone in policing feels betrayed,” said the force’s top cop, Commissioner Cressida Dick.
“No words can adequately express the profound sadness and anger and regret everyone in the Met [feels over] what happened to Sarah.
“Today as every day our thoughts are with Sarah with her family, with her loved ones and they always will be.”
With Post wires
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