‘Where did I miss the signs?’ Wayne Couzens’ wife speaks out on Sarah Everard murder

Sarah Everard
PA Media
Lily Waddell9 July 2021

The wife of police officer Wayne Couzens says she is haunted by the fact she failed to spot any signs her husband had raped and killed Sarah Everard.

Couzens, 48, who kidnapped, raped, and strangled Ms Everardis facing life in prison after admitting her murder.

His wife Elena Couzens, 38, has given her first interview, revealing she has been constantly asking herself “where did I miss the signs?” and “why?”

She told Mail Online: “I keep on asking ‘why?’ What Wayne did wasn’t human behaviour.”

Wayne Couzens
PA Media

Mrs Couzens also revealed that she had to break the news to the couple’s two children as she vowed to “protect” their “safe triangle”.

“Wayne didn’t appear to be acting strangely,” she said.

“I didn’t notice anything was wrong. I’m working full time, most of the time I‘m dropping the children off at school and picking them up, I have a really busy lifestyle.

“I can’t comprehend it because he never once previously showed any glimpse of violence, he was never that way. I’m just as puzzled as everyone else.

“I saw nothing wrong. He had a beautiful family, a good house… what else did he need? I’m constantly asking myself ‘where I did miss the signs?’ How on earth could this have happened?”

Mrs Couzens lived with her husband of 15 years and their two children at a semi-detached family home in Deal, Kent where Couzens was later arrested.

Couzens pleaded guilty to murder at the Old Bailey on Friday via a video link.

He snatched Ms Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, when she walked home at night in the streets of south London.

Couzens, an armed officer who guarded Royals and diplomats, used a hire car to kidnap Ms Everard and dumped her body in a bag normally used for building waste.

Her body was later discovered in a woodland in Ashford, Kent.

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