This is the moment Wayne Couzens was interviewed on his sofa, spinning a bizarre tale involving a prostitute and gangsters.

The former Met Police diplomatic protection officer at first denied knowing Sarah Everard but in minutes confessed to kidnapping her while sat in his front room in Freemen's Way, Deal.

Wayne Couzens is interviewed in his front room

The 48-year-old father-of-two said he was in "financial s***" after "ripping off " a prostitute who he had met at a hotel in Folkestone.

He claimed a gang of Romanians were after him for the money and had threatened to harm his family unless he kidnapped a woman and took her to them.

He told detectives this is what he did, snatching the 33-year-old marketing executive from the street in south London before delivering her to a group of men in a white van who were waiting for him in a lane between Ashford and Maidstone.

They said "you did good" and "we'll be in touch" but he was left so stressed he took time off work, he added.

Couzens even mapped out his route for officers and said he could take them to the spot.

But the former Kent Police officer was lying and he had in fact acted alone, purchasing items in order to dispose of Sarah's body and incinerating it in a fridge on land near a defunct leisure complex.

The interview was one of several clips played to the Old Bailey today.

CCTV footage also showed Couzens speaking to Sarah at the side of the road.

Wayne Couzens speaks to Sarah Everard

The court also heard in the days after Sarah's disappearance Couzens calmly called the vet to book an appointment for the family dog, an audio recording of which was played.

He is being sentenced over two days, with the court today hearing he used Covid rules to arrest Sarah before driving her 80 miles to Kent where he raped and murdered her.

He dumped her in woodland near Great Chart and took his wife and children to the scene, allowing them to play close to the pond in which her body was submerged.

The court also heard from Sarah's family who demanded her killer look at them as they recounted in harrowing detail how his actions had ripped their lives apart.

Read more: Protestors release smoke guns outside the Old Bailey ahead of sentencing

Read more: An insight into the life of murderer Wayne Couzens

To read more of our in depth coverage of all of the major trials coming out of crown and magistrates' courts across the county, click here.

For information on how we can report on court proceedings, click here.

Read more: All the latest news from Kent