A police officer held over the disappearance of Sarah Everard has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police said the man, who is in his 40s and is part of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, was being questioned over suspected kidnap and murder.
Two sites in Kent were being searched on Wednesday as the hunt for the missing 33-year-old continued – one of which is believed to be the suspect’s home.
Marketing executive Ms Everard vanished while walking home from a friend’s flat in south London on Wednesday March 3.
Late on Tuesday, the Met Police said 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.
Police activity outside a house in Freemens Way in Deal, Kent (Steve Parsons/PA)
On Wednesday, the force said he had been initially arrested on suspicion of kidnap, and later murder. He is also being questioned about a separate allegation of indecent exposure.
The police searches in Kent saw a tent erected at the front of a house in Freemens Way in Deal, where multiple cars were taken away by investigators. Later, a metal fence was put up surrounding the front garden and driveway.
A neighbour in the road said a police officer lives at the address with his “chatty” wife and two children.
She said: “They just seemed like a normal, regular family, there was nothing strange about them at all.”
She added that police were digging up the garden.
Matt Mullan, 29, who also lives nearby, told the PA news agency: “Last night there were police cars outside all night.
“I thought this is a bit strange, not normal for round here.
“It was about 8-9pm there was heavy traffic out there and there have been police cars outside all morning.
“It’s very surprising, definitely not what you expect to see.”
A tent covers the entrance to a house in Freemens Way in Deal (Steve Parsons/PA)
Another said: “You don’t expect it to be on your doorstep, really.
“You see this sort of thing every day on the TV and the news but you don’t expect it.”
The land near Ashford is a disused outdoor activity and golfing centre near the village of Great Chart.
Downing Street said Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s thoughts are with Ms Everard and her friends and family.
His official spokesman told journalists at a Westminster briefing: “As investigations are ongoing on this case I can’t comment.
“But the Prime Minister’s thoughts are with Sarah and her friends and family.”
The arrested officer, who was not on duty at the time of Ms Everard’s disappearance, was responsible for uniformed patrolling of diplomatic premises.
Speaking at Scotland Yard on Wednesday morning, Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave said: “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.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here