A harrowing new documentary looking into the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a Met Police officer aired for the first time last night – and left viewers feeling angry, upset and terrified.

Sarah Everard: The Search for Justice included never-seen-before footage of Wayne Couzens, from Deal, after his arrest in March 2021 with a head wound and stating he is in a ‘dark place’.

This was just days after he had driven to London in a hire car, used his warrant card to trick 33-year-old Sarah into getting in his vehicle, before bringing her to Dover to rape and murder her.

Couzens, a father-of-two who is now serving a whole life tariff, then left Sarah’s body in woodland he owned in Great Chart, Ashford.

The hour-long documentary, which was produced with the support of Sarah’s family, also revealed the moment investigating officers from the Met realised their suspect was one of their own.

Taking to X to share their feelings, viewers were left with a range of emotions after watching the show, which also highlighted repeated violence against women.

@TheBendySlow said: “Crying my eyes out. A few months back I walked 15 mins in the street I live in. In that period of time two different cars slowed and started to follow me until I got my phone out to pretend to make a call. Another man leapt at me. We are not safe.”

@feverdreaamhigh posted: “Watching #SarahEverardTheSearchForJustice and first and foremost I’m appalled he was just sitting in his living room watching TV like nothing had happened when he was arrested. And what on earth was he on about with this story he made up about being in financial ruin? Terrifying.”

@JoyPalmerRM said: “Finally watched programme this morning. I wanted to know how this monster was caught. He was so brazen and depraved that he just set up his car on the pavement on a main road after he had identified her as his next victim. Truly shocking! #SarahEverardTheSearchForJustice.”

@nixie1980 posted: “The BBC programme about Sarah Everard was moving and upsetting. The #MetPolice rightly get a rough ride but well done to the officers that investigated and solved this case quickly. RIP.”

Sarah was abducted by Couzens on March 3, 2021 while walking home from a friend’s house in Clapham.

CCTV from a passing bus camera showed Couzens had pulled over and was talking to the marketing assistant, seemingly showing her his warrant card and using Covid guidelines as an excuse to arrest her.

He took her to Dover, where he changed vehicles, and then on the outskirts of town, raped and murdered her.

In the following days, Couzens was spotted on CCTV in shops in Dover and visiting Sandwich, and even made a call to his vets about his dog’s welfare.

During this time, an investigation and appeal had been launched to find missing Sarah by the Met Police.

Work led detectives to discover Couzens was behind the shocking crime.

It was also revealed he had, only days prior to Sarah’s abduction, indecently exposed himself at a drive-thru in Kent.

Officers were sent to his home in Freeman’s Way, Deal, to arrest him on March 9.

Former Met detective Nick Harvey, who appears in the documentary, was on his way to question the killer when he discovered Couzens was an officer.

"It was immediately and abundantly clear how much this was going to change policing and what a huge moment in history it was going to be," he told BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour.

In the documentary, Mr Harvey said: "The moment I told the team, it just went silent.”

Knocking on Couzens' front door and showing his warrant card, the detective told the BBC the killer "just went grey".

"Just... all the colour just ran out of his face," he said.

Footage then shows Couzens being arrested on suspicion of kidnap in his living room, and Mr Harvey questioning him.

When asked about Everard's disappearance, Couzens replies he has financial problems and had been threatened by a gang and told to kidnap girls on their behalf.

Det Ch Insp Katherine Goodwin also speaks of the "shock" of telling her boss they were arresting a serving Met officer.

She said: "At that time, Wayne Couzens was a name that meant nothing to any of us.

“So immediately we start researching the name, also the phone number and the address that had been given when he'd hired the car.

"I knew that I had to tell my boss and I can just remember the shock of having to just sit on the floor of the office and say to her, 'You're not going to believe this, that he's a police officer'.

"And then the same questions went through her head as went through my head: 'Are you sure?'."

Goodwin also tells the documentary the Met might never have known how Couzens carried out the kidnap without the help of "a really significant witness" in a passing vehicle who saw Couzens handcuffing Ms Everard at the side of the road.

"She's seen a woman being handcuffed by an undercover officer," the detective said.

"And she hadn't thought much of it, other to remark to her partner who is in the car that she didn't think women got handcuffed very often.

"Now, what she didn't realise was, of course, she was witnessing Sarah and what had happened to her.

"Without that statement, we may have never known how he actually got her into that car."

It is the first time Goodwin has spoken on camera about the case.

An inquiry has since found Couzens should never have been given a job as a police officer and chances to stop the sexual predator were repeatedly ignored and missed.

Police – including Kent’s force – “failed” to spot warning signs about his “unsuitability for office”, the damning report concluded amid fears many more women and girls could have been victims of Couzens.

According to the report, over the last two years the inquiry uncovered evidence Couzens was accused of a string of other incidents of sexual abuse, including a “very serious sexual assault of a child barely into her teens”.

Sarah Everard: The Search for Justice is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.