A British police officer charged with murder pretended his victim was under arrest for coronavirus breaches before kidnapping her, a court has heard.

Wayne Couzens, 48, appeared at London’s Central Criminal Court on Wednesday charged with the kidnap, rape and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard, who disappeared while walking home from visiting a friend in south London on March 3.

Couzens has pleaded guilty to the charges.

He sat in court with his head bowed as members of Ms Everard’s family listened to prosecutor Tom Little open his case. They later demanded he look at them as they told the court how they were tormented by thoughts of Ms Everard’s final moments.

Her sister, Katie Everard, spoke to Couzens directly.

“The last moments of Sarah’s life play on my mind constantly,” she said.

“You’ve taken from me the most precious person. And I can never get her back.”

Mr Little said that on the night of the kidnap, Couzens wore his police belt with handcuffs and used his police warrant card. The policeman detained Ms Everard “by fraud” in a “false arrest”, Mr Little said.

He also had booked a car rental, the prosecutor argued.

There was “no credible alternative explanation for his need to hire a car other than to use that car to kidnap and rape a lone woman,” Mr Little said.

“His movements were consistent with the defendant looking for, or hunting, for a lone young female to kidnap and rape, which is precisely what he did,” the prosecutor argued.

Wayne Couzens will be sentenced for the kidnap, rape & murder of Sarah Everard over next 2 days.

We’re sickened, angered & devastated by his crimes. They betray everything we stand for.

We recognise his actions raise many concerns, we’ll comment further when hearing is complete

— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) September 29, 2021

Couzens joined the Metropolitan Police in 2018 and had worked as part of a team protecting diplomatic premises in central London.

He had worked an overnight shift at the US embassy on the day he kidnapped Ms Everard.

As a police officer, Couzens also had worked on COVID-19 patrols and enforcing coronavirus regulations, Mr Little said.

Ms Everard being out after going to a friend’s house for dinner while the UK remained under lockdown made her more vulnerable to the officer’s claim that she had breached pandemic rules, according to the prosecutor.

A passenger in a passing car witnessed the kidnapping but mistook it for an arrest by an undercover officer, he added.

Ms Everard’s body was found in woodland in Ashford, Kent, about 97 kilometres south-east of London a week after she went missing.

Her disappearance led to one of the most widely publicised missing person investigations in the UK, Mr Little said.

The horrific death of Sarah Everard shocked London. Photo: Getty

The case also sparked outrage and triggered large-scale protests denouncing violence against women.

The UK government said after Ms Everard’s killing that it would invest millions of pounds more in its “Safer Streets” fund to put more officers on the streets and improve street lighting and closed-circuit television facilities to protect women and girls.

Ahead of the court hearing, the Metropolitan Police department said it was “sickened, angered and devastated by this man’s crimes, which betray everything we stand for”.

The force said it would not further comment until the hearing is over.

A judge is expected to sentence Couzens on Thursday.

-with AAP