UK inquiry to examine how serving police officer could commit Everard murder

People visit the memorial site at the Clapham Common Bandstand, following the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard, in London, Britain, March 17, 2021. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

LONDON (Reuters) - A public inquiry will examine how a serving British police officer was able to abduct and murder a woman, the interior ministry announced on Monday, and whether he could have been stopped from carrying out a crime that horrified the nation.

Wayne Couzens, 48, an officer whose job was to guard diplomatic premises in the British capital, abducted marketing executive Sarah Everard, 33, on a London street as she walked home in March last year, and then raped and murdered her.