Police failing women

A depressing picture of how Britain’s police are not providing the level of protection that women are entitled to expect has been painted in two cases. An inquiry, conducted by Dame Elish Angiolini, stated that there had been a “lamentable and repeated failure” by the police to deal with allegations of sexual misconduct against Wayne Couzens, a then serving police officer, before he murdered Sarah Everard in March 2021.

Dame Elish made 16 recommendations, including that a new importance should be attached to reports of indecent exposure. She said police investigations of indecent exposure by Couzens – which might have prevented Miss Everard’s death – had been of “poor quality and inadequate” with officers displaying “apathy and disinterest”.

Meanwhile, in Glasgow, Iain Packer was jailed for 36 years for the murder of Emma Caldwell 19 years ago, in an astonishing case which had seen police accused of concentrating on investigating journalists rather than finding her murderer. The delay allowed Packer to “rape and rape again”, according to Caldwell’s family.

A newspaper had branded Packer the “forgotten suspect” in 2005, but was then investigated by police to discover the paper’s sources – action that was ruled to have breached the editor’s rights by an Investigatory Powers Tribunal. The relevant force, Strathclyde Police, now part of Police Scotland, has apologised to Caldwell’s family, who are demanding a judge-led inquiry into the case.

The two cases highlight the serious problem posed to women’s safety when police forces ignore evidence that could have brought serious sex offenders to speedier justice.