Sarah Everard’s family share impact statements at Wayne Couzens sentencing - read them in full

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The father of Sarah Everard has asked her murderer to face him court, as family members share impact statements at the Old Bailey.

Jeremy Everard, a professor of electronics at the University of York, stood in the witness box at the Old Bailey on Wednesday (29 September), and told Wayne Couzens: “No punishment that you receive will ever compare to the pain and torture that you have inflicted on us.”

At a glance: 5 key points

  • The family of Sarah Everard read their victim impact statements during the sentencing hearing of Wayne Couzens. 
  • The killer, 48, had sat hunched over throughout his sentencing hearing and Mr Everard calmly asked him: “Mr Couzens, please will you look at me.” Couzens, who is facing a possible whole life sentence after admitting Ms Everard’s rape, kidnap and murder, raised his head slightly but did not make eye contact.
  • It was revealed that Ms Everard was handcuffed by her murderer as he pretended to arrest her for breaching Covid-19 guidelines. The abduction took place as she walked home from a friend’s house in Clapham on 3 March 2021.
  • Sarah Everard’s family said their feeling of loss "is so great it is visceral", with her parents saying they would never forgive her killer. Ms Everard’s mother told the Old Bailey she had kept her daughter’s dressing gown as it smelled like her. 
  • The sentencing hearing has been adjourned until Thursday 30 September, when Couzens will be sentenced.

Everard family statements in full

Impact statement from Susan Everard - mother of Ms Everard

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“​​Sarah is gone and I am broken hearted. She was my precious little girl, our youngest child. The feeling of loss is so great it is visceral.

Sarah died in horrendous circumstances. I am tormented at the thought of what she endured.

In her last hours she was faced with brutality and terror, alone with someone intent on doing her harm. The thought of it is unbearable. I am haunted by the horror of it.

I am repulsed by the thought of Wayne Couzens and what he did to Sarah.

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I am outraged that he masqueraded as a policeman in order to get what he wanted.

Sarah wanted to get married and have children, now all that has gone.

He took her life and stole her future and we will never have the joy of sharing that future with her.

Impact statement from Jeremy Everard - father of Ms Everard

I can never forgive you for what you have done.

The horrendous murder of my daughter, Sarah, is in my mind all the time and will be for the rest of my life.

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Sarah was handcuffed and unable to defend herself. This preys on my mind all the time.

I can never forgive you for what you have done, for taking Sarah away from us.

You burnt our daughter’s body - you further tortured us - so that we could not see her again. We did not know whether you had burnt her alive or dead.

You stopped us seeing Sarah for one last time and stopped me from giving my daughter one last kiss goodbye.

All my family want is Sarah back with us.

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No punishment that you receive will ever compare to the pain and torture that you have inflicted on us.

You murdered our daughter and forever broke the hearts of her mother, father, brother, sister, family and her friends.

Sarah had so much to look forward to and because of you this is now gone forever.

Impact statement from Katie Everard - sister of Ms Everard

Katie Everard broke down in tears in court as she branded Couzens a monster.

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She said: You treated Sarah as if she was nothing, placed more emphasis on satisfying your sick disgusting perversions than on a life.

You disposed of my sister’s body like it was rubbish. Fly-tipped her like she meant nothing.

A predator - you - was on the loose, prowling the streets for hours looking for his prey.

My only hope is that she was in a state of shock and that she wasn’t aware of the disgusting things being done to her by a monster.

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When you forced yourself upon and raped her. When you put your hands around her neck and strangled her.

It disgusts me that you were the last person to touch her perfect body and violate her in the way you did.

There is no punishment that you could receive that will ever compare to the pain you have caused us.

We can never get Sarah back. The last moments of Sarah’s life play on my mind constantly. I am so disgusted and appalled.

It terrifies me that you have such disregard for a person’s life. You have taken from me the most precious person. And I can never get her back.

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