Sarah Everard: Human remains found in Kent woodland

Published

13 minutes ago

image captionSarah Everard has been described as "beautiful, thoughtful and incredibly kind"

Human remains have been found in the search for missing Sarah Everard, Met Commissioner Cressida Dick has said.

Ms Everard, 33, was last seen on 3 March in Clapham, south London, on her way home from a friend's house.

Detectives have not yet been able to confirm the identity of the remains, which were discovered in woodland near Ashford, Kent.

It comes after a serving Met Police officer was arrested on suspicion of Ms Everard's kidnap and murder.

The officer, who has not been named by police, was arrested in Kent and is also being questioned about a separate allegation of indecent exposure.

Ms Everard, a marketing executive, was last seen in doorbell video footage walking alone down a main road near Clapham at 21:30 GMT, with police saying it was unclear if she reached her home in Brixton.

In a televised statement, Dame Cressida confirmed officers searching an area near Ashford had "found, very sadly, what appears to be human remains".

The Met Police commissioner said specialist officers had updated Ms Everard's family on the investigation.

Dame Cressida continued: "Sarah's disappearance in these awful and wicked circumstances is every family's worst nightmare.

"I know Londoners will want to know that it is thankfully incredibly rare for a woman to be abducted from our streets.

"But I completely understand that despite this, women in London and the wider public - particularly those in the area where Sarah went missing - will be worried and may well be feeling scared."

media captionCressida Dick: "Detectives and search teams have found, very sadly, what appears to be human remains"

Dame Cressida said the arrest of a serving Met Police officer on suspicion of murder "has sent waves of shock and anger through the public and through the whole of the Met".

"I speak on behalf of all my colleagues in the Met when I say we are utterly appalled at this dreadful news," she added. "Our job is to patrol the streets and to protect people."

Hundreds of officers have been drafted in to help with the investigation as searches continue in south London and Kent.

IMAGE COPYRIGHTPA MEDIA

image captionMet Police officers have been searching land near to Great Chart Golf and Leisure in Ashford, Kent

The arrested officer was responsible for uniformed patrolling of diplomatic premises - including Downing Street and the Palace of Westminster, as well as foreign embassies in London.

He was off duty at the time of Ms Everard's disappearance.

A woman in her 30s was also arrested in Kent on Tuesday evening on suspicion of assisting an offender.

media captionThe BBC's Jon Donnison reports on Sarah Everard's last known movements

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his thoughts were with Ms Everard and her friends and family.

The former Durham University student, who is originally from York, was last seen wearing a green rain jacket, navy blue trousers with a white diamond pattern, and turquoise and orange trainers.

She is also thought to have been wearing green earphones and a white beanie hat.

• Home and woods searched over missing Sarah Everard
• Family 'desperate for news' about missing woman
• Detectives confirm last sighting of missing woman

The case has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) because it involves a police officer.

A spokesman said it had been decided that the Met Police would investigate any potential conduct issues linked to the kidnap and murder allegations itself.

The IOPC is currently assessing whether any further measures should be taken in relation to the actions of police after Ms Everard was reported missing.

The BBC's home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said that if it did turn out that a Met Police officer had been involved then there would be a "very strong sense of betrayal from the very top of [the organisation] down to the rank and file".

He said the force would also feel the people of London "above all" will have been betrayed "because they feel a deep sense of pride that their job is to protect the people of London and now here is one of their own officers suspected of doing the exact opposite in the worst possible way".

Disappearance timeline:

• 3 March: Sarah Everard vanishes after leaving a friend's house on Leathwaite Road, Clapham, about 21:00 GMT
• 5 March: Met Police are "increasingly concerned" for Ms Everard and make an appeal on Twitter
• 6 March: Ms Everard's family say her disappearance is "totally out of character" as officers search Clapham Common's ponds
• 7 March: Footage taken from a doorbell camera shows Ms Everard walking alone along the A205 Poynder Road towards Tulse Hill at 21:30. Police say it is unclear whether or not she reached her house in Brixton
• 8 March: More than 120 calls are made from the public on the case and more than 750 homes are visited as part of the investigation
• 9 March: A serving officer is arrested in Kent along with a woman who is held on suspicion of assisting an offender
• 10 March: Met Police Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave describes the arrest as "shocking and deeply disturbing". Extensive searches are carried out in parts of Kent. Later in the evening Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said human remains have been found in a woodland in Kent

Covid-19: Brazil surge reaches new level as daily deaths pass 2,000

Published

1 hour ago

Related Topics

• Coronavirus pandemic

IMAGE COPYRIGHTREUTERS

image captionBrazil has recorded 268,370 fatalities since the pandemic began

Brazil has exceeded 2,000 Covid-related deaths in a single day for the first time, as infection rates soar.

The country has the second highest death toll in the world, behind the US, with a total of 268,370 fatalities. Wednesday's total was 2,286.

Experts warn the transmission rate is made worse by more contagious variants.

On Wednesday, former leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hit out at President Jair Bolsonaro's "stupid" decisions made during the pandemic.

Mr Bolsonaro, who was pictured wearing a mask for the first time in a month on Wednesday, has consistently sought to downplay the threat posed by the virus. Earlier this week he told people to "stop whining".

• What is the Brazil variant?
• Bolsonaro tells Brazilians to 'stop whining'

The surge in cases has put health systems in most of Brazil's largest cities under immense pressure, with many close to collapse, Brazil's leading public health centre Fiocruz warns.

Margareth Dalcolmo, a doctor and researcher at Fiocruz said the country was "at the worst moment of the pandemic".

"2021 is still going to be a very hard year," she told AFP news agency.

Thursday is the anniversary of a pandemic being declared by the World Health Organization. Worldwide more than 118 million cases of the virus have been recorded, and more than 2.6 million deaths.

What's the situation in Brazil?

On Wednesday, the country recorded 79,876 new cases, the third highest number in a single day. A surge in cases in recent days has been attributed to the spread of a highly contagious variant of the virus - named P1 - which is thought to have originated in the Amazon city of Manaus.

A total of 2,286 people died with the virus on Wednesday.

According to Fiocruz, 15 state capitals have intensive care units (ICUs) that are at more than 90% capacity including Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

Reports say the capital Brasilia has now reached full ICU capacity, while two cities - Porto Alegre and Campo Grande - have exceeded capacity.

In its report, the institute warned that figures point to the "overload and even collapse of health systems".

Brazilian epidemiologist Dr Pedro Hallal told the BBC's Outside Source TV programme: "If we do not start vaccinating the population here very soon, it will become a massive tragedy."

Dr Hallal, who works in Rio Grande do Sul, said people felt "abandoned by the federal government".

Mr Bolsonaro has belittled the risks posed by the virus from the start of the pandemic. He has also opposed quarantine measures taken at a regional level, arguing that the damage to the economy would be worse than the effects of the virus itself.

Former leader Lula, in his first speech since corruption convictions against him were annulled, told people not to follow "stupid" decisions by Mr Bolsonaro and to "get vaccinated".

Speaking on Wednesday he said "a lot of deaths could have been avoided".

media captionSão Paulo Governor Mr Doria has described President Jair Bolsonaro as a "crazy guy" who is making the country's coronavirus situation worse

Mr Bolsonaro said the criticism was unjustified.

What do we know about the Brazil variant?

Preliminary data suggests the P1 variant could be up to twice as transmittable as the original version of the virus.

It also suggests that the new variant could evade immunity built up by having had the original version of Covid. The chance of reinfection is put at between 25% and 60%.

IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES

image captionThe new coronavirus variant first detected in Brazil has led to a surge in deaths in the country

Last week, the Fiocruz Institute said P1 was just one of several "variants of concern" that have become dominant in six of eight states studied by the Rio-based organisation.

"This information is an atomic bomb," said Roberto Kraenkel, of the Covid-19 Brazil Observatory, told the Washington Post newspaper.

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has described the situation in Brazil as "very concerning" and warned of a possible regional spillover.

Scientists are concerned that Brazil has almost become a "natural laboratory" - where people can see what happens when coronavirus goes relatively unchecked.

Some warn the country is now a breeding ground for new variants of the virus, unhindered by effective social distancing and fuelled by vaccine shortages.

That's because the longer a virus circulates in a country, the more chances it has to mutate - in this case giving rise to P1.

Global experts are calling for a plan - including rapid vaccination, lockdowns, and strict social distancing measures - to get the situation under control.

The worry is that the P1 variant is a looming threat over the progress made in the region and the wider world.

Current vaccines are, on the whole, still effective against the variant but may be less so than against the earlier versions of the virus they were designed to fight.

Studies are ongoing but experts will get their most robust understanding of how well these vaccines work against P1 as they continue to monitor people who have been vaccinated in the real world.

Scientists are confident that, if necessary, vaccines can be tweaked fairly quickly to work against new variants.

Which vaccines work against the variant?

Brazil has ordered more than 200 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca and CoronaVac vaccine. So far, more than eight million people have had their first dose, representing just 4% of the population.

• What we know about the vaccines and the variants
• India hunts for new strains as Covid wave looms

Preliminary studies of the AstraZeneca vaccine suggest it would protect against the P1 variant, although the team behind the vaccine earlier said it offers less protection - but should still protect against severe illness.

Another Brazilian study has reportedly indicated the CoronaVac vaccine, made by China's Sinovac biopharmaceutical company, is effective against the same variant.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has also been able to combat the Brazil variant, according to laboratory research published by the New England Journal of Medicine.

However, the Pfizer vaccine has not yet been rolled out in the country, as Brazilian authorities are still in negotiations with the company over its purchase. According to Reuters news agency, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said Pfizer had agreed to deliver 14m doses by June after a video call with President Bolsonaro.