Human remains found in an area of Kent woodland have been identified as belonging to Sarah Everard, Scotland Yard has said.

The 33-year-old vanished while walking home from a friend’s flat in south London on Wednesday March 3.

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

She was last captured on a doorbell camera walking along the A205 Poynders Road towards Tulse Hill at around 9.30pm on March 3.

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

Met Commissioner Cressida Dick sought to reassure the public in the wake of Wednesday’s developments, saying “it is thankfully incredibly rare for a woman to be abducted from our streets”.

She added: “But I completely understand that despite this, women in London and the wider public – particularly those in the area where Sarah went missing – will be worried and may well be feeling scared.”

The Met said the arrested officer’s main job was uniformed patrol of diplomatic premises, but would not specify where he had worked. He was not on duty at the time of Everard’s disappearance.

The diplomatic protection squad is responsible for guarding the Parliamentary estate including Downing Street and the Palace of Westminster, as well as embassies in London.

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

A woman in her 30s has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.