Eleanor Neale

I mean, there's no current evidence to say that Wayne Cousins had murdered anyone else before, but at least in my opinion, the way that he went about this seems really advanced.

Almost like he was practiced or experienced in some way.

He clearly knows a lot.

And I don't want to get lost in speculation though, so let's just talk about what we do know.

Wayne was prepped.

He had got all of his equipment ready and within the hours after buying those hair bands, Wayne was putting his plan into action.

He was driving around South London just hunting for a woman.

Any woman that was alone and looked vulnerable enough for him to approach and manipulate.

And it was around 9.30pm that he spotted Sarah Everard walking down Poinders Road.

She was just halfway through her walk home.

Cousins pulled his car over, turned on his hazard lights and got out to go and speak to her.

At the time, he was wearing handcuffs attached to his belt, and when he spoke with Sarah, he flashed his warrant card, immediately establishing his power over her, immediately intimidating her, manipulating her, and making it clear that he was someone that she was expected to obey.

Wayne proceeded to question Sarah about where she had been that night.

Remember the super confusing COVID rules at the time were that you had to have a reasonable excuse to be out and about.

And he proceeded to lie to her and tell her that she was in breach of COVID regulations.

He told her that she was breaking the law and that he needed to arrest her for this.

The rules were truly so messy at the time that Sarah could have easily been convinced that she was in the wrong, even if she wasn't.

Cousins would have been able to play on some specific wording or a new rule that she might have only vaguely heard about in order to make her believe that she was actually committing a crime.

And if a police officer who has shown you his warrant card says that you're breaking the law,

I think most people would actually believe them, even if you think that you're in the right.