Police search Kent locations as hunt for Sarah continues

LONDON: Detectives investigating the disappearance of Sarah Everard were searching a home and woodland in Kent following the arrest of a serving Metropolitan Police officer.

The 33-year-old marketing executive vanished while walking home from a friend’s flat in south London on Wednesday, March 3.

Late on Tuesday, the Met Police said that a serving officer from the force had been arrested as part of the investigation, but in an unusual step would not reveal what he had been detained for.

On Wednesday, police searches were being carried out in two locations in Kent – land near Ashford and at a property in Deal. A tent was erected outside a house in Freemens Way in Deal, and a car was seen being taken away from the property. The Metropolitan Police said they were searching a number of locations in Kent but would not reveal where.

Earlier, speaking to journalists outside Scotland Yard, Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave said investigators “really hope” that Ms Everard is still alive.

The officer, who was not on duty at the time of Ms Everard’s disappearance, was arrested on Tuesday evening at an address in Kent, along with a woman who has been held on suspicion of assisting an offender.

Ephgrave said: “This is a serious and significant development in our search for Sarah and the fact that the man who has been arrested is a serving Metropolitan Police officer is both shocking and deeply disturbing.”

He told reporters that detectives are working “at all speed” to find out what has happened to Ms Everard, and repeated appeals for members of the public to come forward with information.

Turning to the 33-year-old’s family, who along with her friends have issued desperate appeals for help via social media, he said: “As a father myself of four young women I can only imagine the anguish that Sarah’s family are feeling at this very very difficult time.”

Ms Everard is thought to have walked through Clapham Common towards her house in Brixton – a journey which should have taken around 50 minutes.

She was last captured on a doorbell camera walking along the A205 Poynders Road towards Tulse Hill at around 9.30pm on March 3.

On Tuesday evening, police put up a cordon outside a block of flats near where the footage was recorded. The search was focused on the Poynders Court housing complex, and forensics officers could be seen examining the area.

Sniffer dogs were also used to search the nearby Oaklands Estate and gardens in surrounding streets, while other officers were lifting covers and searching drains along the A205.

The Met said it had received more than 120 calls from the public and had visited 750 homes in the area as part of the investigation.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan told the PA news agency that he was in regular contact with the Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick about the investigation.

Khan added: “It is now in the public domain that a serving Met Police officer has been arrested. One of the things that this confirms that actually our police service, when it comes to keeping the public safe, when it comes to investigating crime, they work in a situation that is without fear or favour. They will follow the investigation to wherever it takes.”