UK elite cop charged with murder of woman

London police on Friday charged a fellow officer with kidnap and murder, hours after confirming a body discovered in woodland was that of a missing woman in a high-profile case that has shocked Britain.

Wayne Couzens, 48, a serving officer in the Metropolitan Police's elite diplomatic protection unit, was charged with killing 33-year-old marketing executive Sarah Everard, the force said.

She vanished while walking home in south London on the evening of March 3, with Couzens' arrest a week later sending shockwaves through the Met -- and the wider public -- and triggering an angry debate about women's safety.

"Following a referral of evidence by the Metropolitan Police related to the death of Sarah Everard, the CPS has authorised the police to charge Wayne Couzens with murder and kidnapping," Rosemary Ainslie, of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said in a short statement.

Couzens, who was first arrested late Tuesday in Kent, southeast England -- where he lives and Everand's remains were found the following day -- is due to appear Saturday at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

His charging came several hours after police confirmed that the body, found in an area of woodland in Ashford, Kent, late Wednesday had been identified as Everard.

Officials also revealed Couzens had again been admitted to hospital Friday with a head injury, a day after being briefly hospitalised for a similar injury sustained while "alone in his cell".