Questions for police after shocking murder
READING the chilling details of Sarah Everard’s kidnap, rape and murder by killer policeman Wayne Couzens is hard enough for those of us who never knew her. One can only imagine what her family is going through and our hearts go out to them.
The case raises serious questions about trust in our police and the rights women have to live their lives without fear curtailing their freedoms.
As Couzens became the first police officer in British history to receive a whole-life sentence, the Old Bailey heard how he “misused” his “office and authority” as a Metropolitan Police officer to kidnap, rape, murder and burn Miss Everard after stopping and abducting her from a London street. The murderer, a married father of two, used his Met Police issue warrant card and handcuffs to kidnap his victim as the 33-year-old walked home from a friend’s house.
The case is all the more sickening because flags were missed. A couple who witnessed him “arresting” Miss Everard as they drove past failed to stop. They mistakenly believed she had done something wrong. Such is the trust in our police. That trust has been eroded by Couzens and the failure of the police to investigate one of their own.
The Old Bailey was told Couzens’ colleagues knew he was “attracted to violent sexual pornography” and nicknamed him “The Rapist” three years before he joined the Met.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct has served 12 notices for allegations of misconduct to police investigating matters against Couzens before he killed. The matters relate to failed investigations into Couzens allegedly exposing himself in a McDonald’s restaurant in London on February 28 – three days before
Miss Everard’s murder – and a similar indecent exposure claim in Kent in 2015.
Senior MP Harriet Harman, who chairs Parliament’s joint human rights committee, has called for head of the Met Cressida Dick to resign saying “women’s confidence in the police has been shattered”.
Of course not all police are violent killers. But cultural misogyny must not be ignored. The police must now demonstrate they are here for all of us.
Women must be able to live their lives without fear, without feeling it is up to them to adjust their behaviour to protect themselves. Safety and protection is a responsibility everyone must share and such a responsibility must be instilled in everyone. Otherwise the human cost will continue to prove unbearable, inexcusable and no society should ever tolerate such appalling loss. RIP Sarah Everard.