Reclaim These Streets and Rosa in fundraising in Sarah Everard's memory
Published: 11:49, 21 March 2021
Updated: 13:01, 21 March 2021
More than £500,000 raised in memory of Sarah Everard will go to help fund women's charities.
The 33-year-old disappeared while walking home in Clapham in London on March 3, her body was found in woodland near Ashford a week later.
Reclaim These Streets, which organised the fundraising through a JustGiving page, has agreed for Rosa to manage the distribution.
Rosa is a UK fund for women and girls.
The total raised is well above the target of £320,000 and follows a public outcry over women's safety.
Rosa's website statement said: "Rosa and Reclaim These Streets would like to thank the public for their generous donations to the crowdfunder.
"We know these donations were made in response to the awful recent events and the countless other incidents where women and girls have been scarred by violence and harassment.
"We will do everything we can to honour that. We will use this money to reach organisations working to change and save women’s and girls’ lives. In the coming days, the JustGiving crowdfunder page will be redirected so that any further donations will be made directly to Rosa."
Wayne Couzens, 48, a serving Metropolitan Police officer, was arrested in connection with Sarah's disappearance at his home in Freemen's Way, Deal, on March 9.
He was subsequently charged with Sarah's kidnap and murder and appeared at the Old Bailey on Tuesday where he was remanded in custody.
He is expected to enter pleas in July and a trial is scheduled for October.
The Metropolitan Police are leading the investigation and over the last couple of weeks its officers have searched a number of sites in the county including Couzens' home, the Betteshanger area of Deal and the woodland where Sarah's remains were found.
They have since left that woodland.
Officers have also searched parts of Sandwich and Couzens' former workplace, the now-disused BCB garage in Dover and further along the area's Military Road.
People in the area have been given the chance to pay their respects with two books of condolences opening in Sandwich and Deal.
Last night, in Market Square in Dover, KentOnline found flowers and candles laid for Sarah plus signs from local supporters of Reclaim These Streets.
One simply said: "She was walking home."
Read more: All the latest news from Ashford
Read more: All the latest news from Deal
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Sam Lennon