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| - A police officer in London's diplomatic protection force was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of murder following the disappearance of a 33-year-old woman while she was walking home, police said. The Metropolitan Police said the officer, who is a member of the same force, was originally detained late Tuesday on suspicion of kidnapping and is now further held on suspicion of indecent exposure. The officer, aged in his 40s and who serves in the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command, remains in custody at a police station in the British capital, the police said. A woman in her 30s was also arrested Tuesday on suspicion of assisting an offender and remains in custody as part of the investigation into the case, the police said. The arrests follow a week-long investigation into the disappearance of Sarah Everard, who vanished while walking home from a friend's flat in south London on the evening of March 3. The marketing executive was last seen on CCTV walking alone on a street, but never made it home, according to police, whose repeated appeals for information have received wide media coverage. Officers on Wednesday were searching locations in London and in Kent, southeast of the capital, including woodland near the town of Ashford. The arrested officer, whose primary role was armed patrols of diplomatic premises, was taken into custody Tuesday in Kent. "We will continue to work with all speed on this investigation but the fact that the arrested man is a serving Metropolitan Police officer is both shocking and deeply disturbing," Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave said in a statement. jj/jit/lc
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