Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters
The family of Sarah Everard have heard that an initial postmortem examination has not established how she died, and further inquiries into the cause of her death are ongoing.
Everard’s parents, brother and sister were present at the opening of an inquest into her death on Thursday, and heard that the body of the 33-year-old was found in woods just outside Ashford in Kent.
The inquest in Maidstone, Kent, was opened and adjourned after a brief hearing, and a decision as to whether it will be reopened will be taken after the trial of serving police officer Wayne Couzens. Couzens, 48, from Deal, also in Kent, will stand trial for her kidnap and murder at the end of October.
Senior coroner Patricia Harding told Everard’s parents and her brother and sister listening to the proceedings “how very sorry, I am for your loss”.
The inquest heard that an initial postmortem following the discovery of Everard’s body did not provide “a medical cause of death” and pathologists would make conclusions after further examinations. Pathologists confirmed there was “no natural disease that would have caused her death”, the inquest heard.
Giving evidence at the inquest opening, acting DI Lee Tullett gave a brief outline of Everard’s disappearance, noting that she had left a friend’s house in Clapham, south London, at 9pm on 3 March. She had begun walking home and called her boyfriend, Josh Lowth, for 15 minutes, ending the call at 9.27pm.
Tullet told the inquest that she had not been heard from since that moment. “There was no social media presence, and she failed to attend a meeting at work the following day,” he told the coroner, “This was all very much out of character, Josh grew concerned and as a result contacted and informed the police, reporting her missing.”
A missing person’s inquiry started on Thursday evening and continued “through Friday and onwards”, said Tullet. The examination of CCTV footage and local inquiries enabled the police “to some degree” plot her route home, he added.
Asked where Everard’s body had been found, Tullet said her body was discovered in Hoad’s Wood, just outside Ashford in Kent. “We discovered Sarah there on the 10th March at about 4.20pm,” he said.
