Met boss must answer ‘serious questions’ amid calls to quit

“SERIOUS questions” need to be answered by the Metropolitan Police, the Home Secretary has said, as she backed Dame Cressida Dick in the wake of Miss Everard’s murder.

The Met commissioner faced more calls to step down amid demands for urgent action to restore the confidence of women in the police after Wayne Couzens was handed a whole life sentence for the killing.

Earlier this month, her contract was extended by two years, which means she will continue to lead the Met until 2024. Speaking at the Home Office, Priti Patel said: “There are questions, serious questions that need to be answered by the Metropolitan Police ... from the very day that Sarah went missing, I have been, clearly, in contact with the Metropolitan Police and putting forward some questions around the conduct of the potential suspect at the time and all the requirements and checks that should have been put in place.”

When asked if Dame Cressida should resign, she said: “I will continue to work with the Metropolitan Police and the commissioner to hold them to account, as everybody would expect me to do, and I will continue to do that.” Describing Couzens as a “monster” and the case as “sickening” and an “appalling tragedy”, Ms Patel said: “It is right that he has been given a whole-life tariff and with that he can never walk the streets of our country again.”

Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Sir Tom Winsor, also said he did not believe Dame Cressida should resign. He told BBC Radio 4’s The World At One: “Cressida Dick is not responsible for the individual acts of every police officer, including a police officer of the appalling criminal intent of Wayne Couzens.”