PC’s wife ‘living in fear’ as he’s remanded over Sarah Everard ‘murder’
PC Wayne Couzens is accused of kidnapping and murdering the 33-year-old.
The wife of a policeman accused of kidnapping and murdering Sarah Everard has been ‘living in fear’ because of attacks from trolls.
The mother of PC Wayne Couzens’s wife Elena has said she has been targeted with abuse on her Facebook account, which has since been deleted.
Mum Nina Sukhoreba, who lives in Ukraine, told the Sunday Mirror: ‘I am very surprised how the Western people have behaved.
‘How can they write such horror about my family?’
In regards to the backlash her daughter and son-in-law faced online, she added: ‘Have they never heard of presumption of innocence?’
Couzens and Elena met in Switzerland where she was working and were married 15 years ago.
One of her mother’s friends said Elena was ‘really scared’ and ‘can’t believe what is happening’.
They added: ‘Her mum has never called Wayne her son-in-law, always son, and their relationship is more like mum and son.’
Couzens appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday morning charged with kidnap and murder following his arrest on Tuesday.
He arrived at the central London court at 10am in a large blue police van, stepping into the dock around 30 minutes later.
In the dock, he wore a grey tracksuit and appeared to have a red wound on the top of his forehead.
Couzens spoke only to confirm his name and personal details, sitting between two plainclothes officers.
He is accused of kidnapping Ms Everard, 33, in the Poynders Road area of Clapham.
Ms Everard‘s body was found inside a builder’s bag in Kent and was later identified through the use of dental records, the court heard.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring remanded Couzens in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on March 16.
The Metropolitan Police previously said Couzens joined the force in 2018, most recently serving in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, an armed unit responsible for guarding the Parliamentary estate and embassies in London.
His main job was uniformed patrol of diplomatic buildings, and Scotland Yard said he was not on duty at the time of Ms Everard’s disappearance.
The force said that Couzens, of Deal, in Kent, was taken to hospital for a second time in 48 hours on Friday for treatment to another head injury sustained in custody, before he was discharged and returned to a police station.
He was previously treated in hospital for a separate head wound on Thursday, also sustained in custody when he was alone in his cell.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.