Police search car park for Sarah Everard clues

Police officers investigating the death of Sarah Everard have been combing a supermarket car park in the town of Sandwich, Kent.

Meanwhile, specialist divers have been seen searching a stretch of water.

Large portions of the historic town remained cordoned off with police tape as inquiries into the death of the 33-year-old continue.

Serving Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens, 48, has been charged with kidnapping and killing the marketing executive, who went missing while walking home from a friend’s flat in south London on March 3.

Officers used sticks to search through a shopping trolley shelter outside a Cooperative supermarket yesterday, while others looked under vehicles.

At the edge of the cordon, a few officers gathered for discussion as one showed their colleagues a piece of gold jewellery that was then put in an evidence bag.

Officers were searching the Co-op car park in Sandwich after a body found hidden in woodland at Ashford was identified as that of Ms Everard. A specialist marine unit from Devon and Cornwall was on the scene, as the River Stour runs through the town.

In a separate car park by the town’s Guildhall, officers dressed in blue overalls were seen pulling on wellies in another cordoned-off area. Divers were seen in a stretch over water by The Ropewalk near the town centre.

Scotland Yard said police have routinely been searching areas of London and Kent as part of the investigation.

The Met Police said Couzens joined the force two years ago in September 2018 when he worked for a response team covering the Bromley area, before moving to the

Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command in February last year.

The Prime Minister has backed Metropolitan Police chief Dame Cressida Dick despite the “very distressing” scenes at a vigil in memory of Ms Everard. Officers clashed with crowds gathered on Clapham Common in south London on Saturday.

Boris Johnson said the police had a “very difficult job” to do, as Scotland Yard continued to face questions over its handling of the event.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said footage of the Clapham Common event was “upsetting” but defended restrictions on protests put in place to

curb the spread of coronavirus. In a Commons statement she added that “too many” women felt unsafe in public. Mr Johnson was chairing

meeting of the a

Government’s Crime and Justice Taskforce yesterday to discuss ways to protect women and girls from violence, with Dame Cressida and Ms Patel among those attending.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Mr Johnson said he still had confidence in Dame Cressida.

He told reporters in Coventry: “Yes I do. And what she’s asked is... that we look at what happened on Saturday night.

“The police do have very, very difficult job.

“But there’s no question that the scenes that we saw were very distressing and so it is right that Tom Winsor, the inspector of constabulary, should do a full report into it.

“I think people have got to have confidence in the police and Tom’s going to look at that.”

Mr Johnson said society and the government needed to ensure women’s complaints about violence a

are properly heard. He said “the fundamental issue we have to address as a country, and as a society and as a government, is that ... women in particular must feel that when they make serious complaints about violence, about assault, that they are properly heard.

“We are going to make sure that happens.”

Ms Patel has asked Sir Thomas Winsor, chief inspector of constabulary, to conduct a “lessons learned” review into the policing of the vigil in London.

However, she urged people not to “participate in large gatherings or attend protests” while coronavirus restrictions remained in force.

MESSAGE: People raise their fists during a minute’s silence at the Reclaim the Streets protest held in London in memory of Sarah Everard.

Sarah Everard, whose body was found hidden in woods.