Timeline of Sarah Everard’s disappearance in south London

Metropolitan Police hand image taken from CCTV footage of Sarah Everard captured earlier on the night she went missing. Issue date: Monday March 8, 2021.

Here is a timeline of the key events in the disappearance of Sarah Everard.

  • Wednesday, March 3: The 33-year-old marketing executive goes missing after leaving a friend’s house in Clapham, south London, around 9pm.

  • March 6: Metropolitan Police raise the alarm over Ms Everard’s disappearance, saying it was “totally out of character” for her not to be in contact with family and friends. Police release a CCTV image of her, saying she was thought to have walked through Clapham Common after leaving her friend’s flat, heading towards her home in Brixton, a journey which should have taken around 50 minutes.

  • March 7: Police release footage taken from a private doorbell-type camera showing Ms Everard was walking alone along the A205 Poynders Road towards Tulse Hill, just south of Brixton. Police say it is unclear whether or not she reached her house. She was last seen wearing a green rain jacket, navy blue trousers with a white diamond pattern and turquoise and orange trainers, and was thought to have been wearing green earphones and a white beanie hat. Scotland Yard says the investigation is being led by its Specialist Crime Command because of the “complex nature” of the probe, which combines searches with house-to-house inquiries.

  • March 8: Scotland Yard says it remains “open minded as to all possibilities” over Ms Everard’s disappearance, while confirming a missing persons investigation. Specialist officers are drafted in from across the Metropolitan Police force. Police say they have received more than 120 calls from the public on the case, and ask anyone who may have relevant dashcam or other footage to come forward.

  • March 9: Police use sniffer dogs to search gardens in streets around the search site near Ms Everard’s envisaged route home and in the nearby Oaklands Estate. Officers also search a pond in Clapham Common and drains along the A205. Police also release fresh images of Ms Everard – wearing the coat in which she disappeared – as they appeal for the public’s help. Later in the day, the Met sets up a cordon around the Poynders Court housing complex on Poynders Road as part of the search, with forensics officers seen examining the area.

  • 11.59pm, March 9: The Met tweets that it has arrested a police officer at an address in Kent in connection with Ms Everard’s disappearance. Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave says the fact the man is a serving police officer “is both shocking and deeply disturbing”. The Met says a woman has also been arrested at the same location on suspicion of assisting an offender. The man and the woman are taken into custody. Detective Chief Inspector Katherine Goodwin says the force is still “doing everything we can to find Sarah”.