Human remains found hidden in woodland  has been identified as that of Sarah Everard.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave made the announcement outside Scotland Yard on Friday.

He said: “On Wednesday evening detectives investigating the disappearance of Sarah Everard discovered a body secreted in woodland in Kent.

“The body has now been recovered and a formal identification procedure has been undertaken. I can now confirm that it is the body of Sarah Everard.”

Mr Ephgrave said Ms Everard’s family had been told this “most distressing news”.

He said his “thoughts and prayers, and those of the entire organisation” remain with Sarah Everard’s family “at this awful time”.

He added: “Specialist officers remain in constant contact with Sarah’s family, and will continue to support them throughout the investigation and beyond.

“That investigation continues at a pace and we have hundreds of officers working round the clock to establish the full circumstances of Sarah’s disappearance, and her murder.”

Ms Everard vanished while walking home from a friend’s flat in south London on Wednesday March 3.

She is thought to have walked through Clapham Common towards her house in Brixton – a journey which should have taken around 50 minutes.

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The 33-year-old was last captured on camera walking along the A205 Poynders Road towards Tulse Hill at around 9.30pm on March 3.

The Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday night that remains had been found in an area of woodland in Ashford in Kent.

A serving police officer in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command has been arrested on suspicion of Ms Everard’s kidnap and murder.

The officer, in his 40s, was also arrested over a separate allegation of indecent exposure, the Met said.