Britain’s Metropolitan Police said it arrested a police officer on suspicion of kidnapping and murder in connection with a missing woman in London last week. The force said on Wednesday that the man being an on-duty officer was “shocking and deeply disturbing”, but sought to reassure Londoners that kidnappings on city streets are still rare.
The force said the man, who is in his 40s, was arrested Tuesday night in Kent, south-east London, as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive who disappeared. while walking home from a friend’s apartment in south London on March 3rd.
Police said detectives on Wednesday believed they had found remains in a forest in Kent. The police have not yet confirmed the identity of the remains.
The suspect was an officer in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, the police said, and was responsible for patrolling diplomatic facilities such as Parliament, Downing Street and embassies in London. The force did not specify where he had worked.
He was first arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and, on Wednesday, “was arrested again on suspicion of murder and a separate allegation of indecent exposure”.
The officer was not on duty at the time of Everard’s disappearance. The police did not say whether he knew Everard. The force said he was arrested along with a woman in her 30s who was suspected of helping a criminal. Both suspects remained in custody.
Commissioner Cressida Dick, who heads the Metropolitan Police, said the news that an officer on duty was arrested on suspicion of Everard’s murder “has generated shock waves and anger in the public” and in the police force.
“I speak on behalf of all my colleagues at the Met when I say that we are totally shocked by this terrible news,” she said in a statement broadcast on television.
“Sarah’s disappearance in these terrible and perverse circumstances is the family’s worst nightmare. I know Londoners will want to know that, fortunately, it is incredibly rare for a woman to be kidnapped from our streets. “
Previously, Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave said the arrest of an officer was “shocking and deeply disturbing”.
The case progressed rapidly and hundreds of police officers worked 24 hours a day on the investigation, Dick said.