Sarah Everard’s father asks killer to face him as family share impact statements

Sarah Everard’s father asked her murderer to face him in court, telling Wayne Couzens: “No punishment that you receive will ever compare to the pain and torture that you have inflicted on us.”

Jeremy Everard, a professor of electronics at the University of York, stood in the witness box at the Old Bailey on Wednesday to read his victim impact statement.

He asked for a photo of “my beautiful daughter” to be shown on the court’s big screen, adding: “she also had a beautiful mind”, before turning to face Couzens.

Jeremy Everard
Jeremy Everard (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

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.

Mr Everard told Couzens “there can be no redemption” for what he has done.

“All my family want is Sarah back with us,” he said.

“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.

“She was saving to buy a house and looking forward to marriage and children. We were looking forward to having grandchildren.

“We loved being a part of Sarah’s world and expected her to have a full and happy life. The closest we can get to her now is to visit her grave every day.”

Sarah Everard
Sarah Everard (Family Handout/CPS/PA)

Living in Brixton, south London, she had recently started a new job as a marketing executive and had a boyfriend, Josh Lowth, when she was snatched on her way home from a friend’s house on March 3.

Ms Everard’s sister Katie also asked Couzens: “Will you please look at me?”

She said the family had to go to her flat in Brixton to pack up her “whole life”, with washing left hanging, half-sewn outfits and packages waiting to be opened when she got home.

“But she never got home because a predator – you – was on the loose. Prowling the streets for hours looking for his prey,” she told Couzens, reading her victim statement in court.

“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.”

“Take away her hopes and dreams. Her life. Children that will never be born. Generations that will never exist. Her future no longer exists.

“The future I was supposed to live with my sister no longer exists. You have ruined so many lives.

“Sarah is the very best person with so many people who love and cherish her.

“I want to speak to her and hug her and hear her laugh and go out for dinners and drinks and dancing.

“All those conversations we can never have. There were so many things I wanted to share with her – trips abroad, being each other’s bridesmaid, meeting her babies and being an aunty, growing old together and seeing who got the most wrinkles.

“We weren’t even halfway through our journey and you took it all away!”

Ms Everard’s mother Susan, a charity worker, also faced her daughter’s killer, telling the packed court she has been left “broken hearted” by what he has done.

Susan Everard addresses Wayne Couzens in court
Susan Everard addresses Wayne Couzens in court (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

“The feeling of loss is so great it is visceral. And with the sorrow comes waves of panic at not being able to see her again.

“I can never talk to her, never hold her again, and never more be a part of her life.

“We have kept her dressing gown – it still smells of her and I hug that instead of her.”

Mrs Everard said she is “haunted by the horror” of what happened to her daughter, describing the burning of her body as “the final insult”.

“Our lives will never be the same,” she said.

“We should be a family of five, but now we are four.

“Her death leaves a yawning chasm in our lives that cannot be filled.

“I yearn for her. I remember all the lovely things about her: she was caring, she was funny. She was clever, but she was good at practical things too. She was a beautiful dancer. She was a wonderful daughter.”

Her voice broke as she added: “In the evenings, at the time she was abducted, I let out a silent scream: ‘Don’t get in the car, Sarah. Don’t believe him. Run’.”

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