Sarah Everard: Wayne Couzens presented with picture in March

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Lord Justice Fulford gave the sentence to Wayne Couzens as Sarah Everard’s family watched on. Whole life orders are the most severe punishment available in the UK criminal justice system for those who commit the most serious crimes.

Lord Justice Fulford said to him: “Wayne Couzens, you kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard, having long planned a violent sexual assault on a yet-to-be-selected victim who you intended to  coerce into your custody. You have irretrievably damaged the lives of Sarah Everard’s family and friends, in the ways to which I have, at least in part, referred.

“Mrs Everard devastatingly referred to how the wider world has now lost its appeal for her and, I would add, no doubt for many others who cared for your victim, and Sarah Everard’s sister referred to the inescapable reality of the many lives you have ruined.

“You have eroded the confidence that the public are entitled to have in the police forces of England and  Wales. It is critical that every subject in this country can trust police officers when they encounter them and submit to their authority, which they are entitled to believe is being exercised in good faith.

“You have utterly betrayed your family. Your wife and children,  who on all the evidence, are entirely blameless will have to live with the ignominy of your dreadful crimes for the rest of their lives. You have very considerably added to the  sense of insecurity that many have living in our cities, perhaps particularly women, when travelling by themselves and especially at night.

“During the period before your arrest,  there was never a moment when you gave the slightest indication of regret, following perhaps the realisation of the enormity of the dreadful crimes you had committed.  Instead, you simultaneously attended to the inconsequential details of family life whilst grimly covering your tracks, with all the appearance of a man acting with quiet and unconcerned determination.

“The substantial CCTV footage and similar material does not give the slightest hint of someone in trauma, who has started to have second thoughts in the cold light of day about what they have done.

“Notwithstanding your guilty pleas,  therefore, I have seen no evidence of genuine contrition on your part as opposed to evident self-pity and attempts by you to avoid or minimise the proper consequences of what you have done.  

“Those consequences are that on the count of murder you will be imprisoned for life and the tariff is a whole life order.

“I have taken into account the offences of kidnapping and rape in reaching that decision and on those counts I impose no separate penalty.”

What is a whole life order?

A whole life order is the harshest sentence that can be given in the UK.

It means that Couzens will never be released from prison and will have no option for parole. He will die in prison.

There are 60 criminals serving whole life orders, according to Government figures to the end of June.

These criminals will never be considered for release, unless there are exceptional compassionate grounds to warrant it.

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