Stewart was previously sentenced in 2017 to life in prison with a minimum term of 34 years for the murder of children’s book author Helen Bailey. His lawyer, Amjad Malik QC, argued that the whole-life order he was given for the murdering his wife Diane Stewart was not justified in the circumstances of the case. Stewart, who murdered his wife in 2010 and fiancee in 2016, also appealed against his sentence. “The whole-life order was the right sentence to impose in this wholly exceptional case.” “A police officer is in a uniquely powerful position,” Mr Little said.
Tom Little QC, representing the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and Crown Prosecution Service, said Couzens’ offending was of the “utmost seriousness”, adding: “His criminality was, as found by the judge, a fundamental attack in reality on our democratic way of life. “The combination of his remorse and his guilty pleas… should balance out that aggravating factor which clearly exists, of him being a police officer, albeit off-duty in half uniform.” Jim Sturman QC, for Couzens, told the court that it was accepted that he deserved “decades in jail” but argued a whole-life term was excessive. It was the first time the sentence had been imposed for a single murder of an adult not committed in the course of a terror attack.Ĭouzens appeared by video link from HMP Frankland and members of Ms Everard’s family were present in the Royal Courts of Justice.
It is also reviewing the sentences of three other convicted killers.įormer Metropolitan Police PC Couzens was handed a whole-life term last year for the rape and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard after he abducted her in south London on 3 March 2021.