A London police officer has been charged with the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard, Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said on Friday night
Rosemary Ainslie, head of special crime with the service, said it had authorised the Metrolpolitan Police to charge Wayne Couzens with the murder and kidnapping of the 33-year-old marketing executive.
Police said on Friday that human remains found in a wood in Kent on Thursday was the body of Ms Everard, whose disappearance last week sparked anger and fears among women about their safety.
“He will appear at Westminster magistrates’ court tomorrow (13 March) for his first hearing,” the service said. “The function of the CPS is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges to a court to consider.
“Criminal proceedings are now active and nothing should be published that could jeopardise the defendant’s right to a fair trial.”
Ms Everard was last seen on March 3rd walking alone down a main road in Clapham at around 9.30pm. Police said it was unclear whether she reached her home in Brixton. Mr Couzens (48), a serving member of the Metropolitan Police, was arrested in connection with her disappearance.
British police forces have been warned not to allow vigils planned by thousands of women in dozens of towns and cities to honour the memory of Ms Everard this weekend which were organised amid frustration about “endemic” levels of violence against women and girls.
The Guardian has learned that the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) told forces across England and Wales on Friday that they could not waive lockdown guidance banning gatherings, after it was discussed with the policing minister, Kit Malthouse. The document says that he is “supportive”.
But one force has decided that it will allow vigils as long as they are socially distanced and people wear masks, the Guardian has learned, reasoning that the outdoor events would pose little risk of spreading infection.
Vigils were planned on Clapham Common, south London, and at least two dozen other towns and cities in the wake of the alleged murder of Ms Everard, whose body was identified more than a week after she vanished from south London.
In Scotland, police similarly asked people to stay away from planned vigils in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and to come together online instead.
The arrest of the police officer has been described by the commissioner, Cressida Dick, as having sent “shockwaves and anger through the public and through the Met”.
Responding to an outpouring of public anger and fear, the government on Friday reopened its consultation into violence against women and girls to allow the thousands of stories of abuse and violence experienced by women to feed into government policy.
Nimko Ali, a government adviser and violence against women campaigner, said women had experienced the disappearance and death of Ms Everard as a “collective grief”. “It is like our wounds have been reopened, but when a wound opens up that is a good moment to use antibiotics. This is a moment to use our platforms and our privileges and make sure we bring about change.”
Organisers of the vigil in Clapham, near where Ms Everard was last seen, have been locked in a legal battle with the Met police since Thursday, when the force – after initially apparently seeking to work with organisers – said the gathering would be unlawful under current lockdown restrictions.
They told the organisers, Reclaim These Streets, that they could face tens of thousands of pounds in fixed penalty notices and criminal prosecution under the Serious Crime Act 2007, which criminalises encouraging or assisting an offence, if they pressed ahead, Reclaim These Streets said. Following an emergency hearing on Friday evening, a judge told police and the vigil’s organisers to enter into further discussions.
At the hearing, Mr Justice Holgate refused an application by the organisers of the vigil for the high court to make “an interim declaration” that any ban on outdoor gatherings under coronavirus regulations was “subject to the right to protest”.
The judge also refused to make a declaration that an alleged policy by the Metropolitan police of “prohibiting all protests, irrespective of the specific circumstances” was unlawful.
Mr Justice Holgate said the organisers were told by police that “the vigil would be illegal and that their ‘hands were tied’ by Covid-19 regulations”. The judge added that the four claimants “were told that, as organisers, they would be liable to be issued with £10,000 fixed penalty notices”, and could also be arrested.
The NPCC document is a rare attempt to forge a common approach among the 43 forces across England and Wales. It says “we understand the strength of feeling” but stresses that Covid regulations do not allow large gatherings. It says vigils will have to be conducted “in accordance with the law”. Currently two people are allowed to meet for exercise in England.
In a sign of rising tensions, Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, added her voice to those calling for vigils to be allowed to go ahead, saying: “Women’s voices must not be silenced.”
Campaigners and women across the UK have called for a societal shift and a policy overhaul to tackle violence which sees one women killed at the hands of a man every three days, according to the Femicide Census. – Guardian/Agencies