A 48-year-old policeman pleaded guilty Friday to the kidnapping and rape of British woman Sarah Everard in early March, a crime that has shocked Britain and revived the debate over violence against women.

Wayne Cousins ​​was represented by video from Belmarsh maximum security prison in London, where he has been languishing for months, during a hearing at the Old Bailey Criminal Court in London. He admitted his guilt whispering with a bowed head.

His defense attorney Jim Strowman noted that his client “has pleaded guilty and expressed remorse for what he did and, as we were informed this morning, will bear the burden for the rest of his life.”

This element in the police unit responsible for protecting diplomatic missions in London had pleaded guilty last month to the kidnapping and rape of the 33-year-old, who went missing on March 3 as she walked home, after visiting friends in Clapham, south of the British capital. .

The crime raised a huge wave of influence in the country. Thousands of women posted testimonies on social media expressing their feelings of insecurity, threats and harassment, and called on politicians to act to combat this scourge.

Speaking about Police Constable Wayne Cousins ​​outside Old Bailey Court Friday, London Police Chief Cressida Dick said; The police officers are “disgusted, angry and devastated by this man’s crimes.”

Sarah Everard was found dead seven days after her disappearance in a forest in Kent (southeast of England), a few meters from the land owned by Wayne Cousins.

A coroner’s report concluded that the death was caused by “pressure in the neck.”

London police officers have been implicated in another case, the murder of two sisters in a park in Wembley (Northwest of the British capital) on June 6, 2020. Two police officers have been accused of grossly violating their duties after taking and sharing pictures of themselves at the scene of the double crime.

AFP