London police officer pleads guilty to murdering Sarah Everard

London — A London police officer has pleaded guilty to murdering Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive who went missing while walking home from her boyfriend's house in London earlier this year. Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens, 48, entered the guilty plea during a Friday hearing at London's Central Criminal Court, appearing by video link from the high-security prison where he's being held.

Couzens pleaded guilty to kidnapping and rape charges last month, but at that time he did not enter a plea on the murder charge. He is due to be sentenced at the end of September. Everard's disappearance in early March triggered widespread protests against gender-based violence and heavy-handed policing. Her body was discovered in woodlands outside of the city a week after she went missing.