The British police officer arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and murdering Sarah Everard was rushed to a hospital on Thursday after being found passed out in his cell, according to a report.
Metropolitan Police firearms officer Wayne Couzens, 48, was found with head injuries on Thursday after his second night in the custody of the missing 33-year-old marketing executive, police confirmed to Sun.
The father of two is believed to have been alone in his cell at Wandsworth police station in south London at the time, the news agency said.
“He was found unconscious in his cell with head injuries,” a source told the channel. “The custody officers ran and gave him first aid immediately and he was taken to [a] hospital, ”said the source.
“It caused a hell of a panic and serious questions are being asked about how it happened.”
The Met’s Professional Standards Board is believed to be investigating the incident, the newspaper said.
Scotland Yard confirmed to Sun that “the suspect was taken to a hospital for treatment of a head injury sustained while in custody”.
“He has already been discharged and returned to custody,” a spokesman told the agency.
Couzens was identified by various UK media as the on-duty officer who was arrested for the disappearance of Everard, who was last seen in grainy CCTV footage while walking home in South London after a night on the 3rd March.
Police confirmed on Wednesday that human remains had been found near Ashford, Kent, about 20 miles from Couzens’ hometown, Kent.
Although the remains have not been officially identified as the 33-year-old missing woman, Everard’s uncle told the Evening Standard that it was “hard to hope” for his “devastated” family.
After the discovery, the police officer was also “arrested again” in custody, now on suspicion of murder.
The 48-year-old police officer, a firearms officer with Scotland Yard’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, is also suspected of an unrelated indecent exposure, the police said, without giving details. He has not yet been formally charged.
His wife, 38-year-old Elena, born in Ukraine, was also arrested on suspicion of helping a criminal, Sun said.
Detectives are investigating whether the policeman used his official police identity to lure Everard into his vehicle, Sun said.
![“The working hypothesis is that he [Couzens] I saw Sarah on the street for the first time and kidnapped her,](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/sarah-everard-63.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1462)
“The working hypothesis is that he saw Sarah on the street for the first time and kidnapped her,” a source told the UK newspaper.
“One theory is that he may have used Covid’s block as an excuse to get involved with her and then kidnap her.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday that “Shocked and deeply sad” for developments in the “horrible crime”.
London’s chief police officer, Commissioner Cressida Dick, said the news that the suspected murder was one of his own officers on duty “sent waves of shock and anger to the public and the entire Met.”
“I speak on behalf of all my colleagues at the Met when I say that we are totally shocked by this terrible news. Our job is to patrol the streets and protect people, ”said the commissioner.
“Sarah’s disappearance in these terrible and perverse circumstances is the family’s worst nightmare.”
The kidnapping sparked fear among women across the UK, with the hashtags #saraheverard and #TooManyMen soon becoming popular.
Secretary of the Interior Priti Patel said that “every woman should feel safe to walk on our streets without fear of harassment or violence”.
Dick insisted, however, that “luckily it is incredibly rare for a woman to be kidnapped from our streets.”