. . . AND ONE MAN’S VIEW I JUST HADN’T REALISED HOW BAD THINGS WERE

STEPHEN POLLARD, 56

Some crimes shake the nation. They remain in our consciousness for decades — such as the murder of James Bulger — because they illustrate something that plays into our worst fears. It feels, tragically, that Sarah everard’s disappearance is one such case.

Since a man was arrested on suspicion of her kidnap and murder this week, there has been an outpouring from women on social media and elsewhere. They have all made the same point: that for women, fear of attack is a day-to-day norm.

If I’m walking at night in a quiet street and I see a woman in front of me, I cross the road, conscious that she cannot know my intentions.

But I don’t think I appreciated until now just how unrelenting and constant the concern is that women feel when they are out alone at night. Some men have reacted by remarking that not all men are rapists. I’ve rarely heard a more fatuous comment. of course we aren’t. But to the woman near us, who doesn’t know us, every one of us is a potential attacker.

I’ve been attacked twice: once in the street at night and once in a busy Tube station. So I also look about me when I’m out, and if I spot someone behind me I’ll often cross the road to see if I am being followed.

But for a man, the fear is very different — the fear of a mugging is not the same as the fear of sexual assault.

It shouldn’t need to be said that women have the right to walk down a street without fear. But if that right is to be honoured, men need to change their behaviour. We have to put the fears of women at the front of our minds when we are out.