Kentish Express Ashford & District
Sarah inquiry: ‘Bad apple myth’ warning
An MP has warned that an inquiry launched after the death of Sarah Everard will be a “disservice” to her and her family unless it is given greater powers.
The inquiry will investigate how serving Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens was able to abduct, rape and murder Ms Everard and consider whether any “red flags were missed” earlier in his career.
The Home Office said the first phase will begin soon and is intended to conclude this year to make sure Sarah’s family “get the answers they need”.
But campaign group Reclaim These Streets has said by focusing only on Couzens, the investigation “perpetuates the bad apple myth” and fails to tackle the bad behaviour of other officers.
Now Bell Ribeiro-Addy, MP for Ms Everard’s Streatham constituency, has written to Home Secretary Priti Patel to ask that it be made a statutory inquiry to widen its scope and compel witnesses to give evidence.
She said: “The ultimate aim of this inquiry should be to ensure this never happens again by addressing the wider issues of institutional misogyny within policing which have come to light in the wake of Sarah’s murder.
“Without powers to compel witnesses and without a proper focus on the problem in the wider force, I fear this inquiry is simply a way for the Government to sweep the problem under the carpet, even as they ramp up police powers.
“If women in my constituency and around the country are going to have full confidence in the police again, we need a comprehensive inquiry that doesn’t shy away from examining the full extent of the problem.”
In a letter to Ms Patel, she added: “I have been incredibly disappointed to see that this inquiry will be non-statutory and agree with campaigners that this will be a disservice to Ms Everard and her family.
“A non-statutory inquiry into an issue of this severity and scale is insufficient and it has become very clear that women across the country agree.
“If this inquiry is to stand any chance of restoring women’s trust in the police and criminal justice system, it must be statutory, and the scope must be expanded to look at the wider problem of police-perpetrated abuse.”
The Home Office has said that although a non-statutory inquiry has been established, it can still be converted to a statutory inquiry if required.
The inquiry will look at the “systemic failures” that allowed Couzens, who is serving a whole-life order in prison, to be employed as a police officer.
Couzens kidnapped marketing executive Ms Everard, 33, on the night of March 3 last year in Clapham, south London and took her to Dover. He had made a bogus arrest, claiming he was taking her in for breaching Covid rules during a period of full national lockdown.
He changed from a hire car to his own vehicle in Dover and drove her to a rural area near the town where he raped and strangled her.
Police arrested Couzens at his home in Freemen’s Way, Deal, on March 9. Ms Everard’s remains were found in woodland near Great Chart, Ashford, on March 10.
The married father-of two, 49, admitted to her kidnap, rape and murder and was given a whole life sentence in September. Last month, he was transferred from Belmarsh prison to HMP Frankland in County Durham.