Sarah Everard’s mother has told how the ‘horror’ of her daughter’s murder torments her – as a report reveals too many predators are still getting away with their crimes.
Four years on from the brutal rape and murder of the 33-year-old marketing executive, an independent inquiry has found that perpetrators are often escaping detection and prosecution for sexually motivated crimes due to police inaction and a ‘scattergun approach’ to reform.
In her inquiry into preventing sex crimes against women in public spaces following the 2021 murder, Lady Elish Angiolini KC warned today: ‘Too many perpetrators are slipping through the cracks in an overworked system.’
Astonishingly, despite a ‘spotlight’ on violence against women and girls following a furore over Sarah’s murder by Scotland Yard officer Wayne Couzens, police still do not know how many women are being raped in public spaces as forces are unable to answer ‘basic questions’.
About half of women in the UK feel unsafe due to the actions of men, the inquiry warns and in the online world ‘misogyny and hatred towards women not only flourishes but is disgustingly celebrated’.
Responding to the inquiry, Sarah’s mother Susan Everard told today how she ‘rages against’ the loss of Sarah, adding that the report ‘shows how much work there is to do in preventing sexually motivated crimes against women’.
The mother-of-three from York said she ‘can’t get past the horror of her last hours’ after Sarah was abducted by the off-duty firearms officer in a well-lit street as she walked home in Clapham, south London, during the Covid pandemic.
‘I read that you shouldn’t let a tragedy define you, but I feel that Sarah’s death is such a big part of me that I’m surprised there is no outer sign of it, no obvious mark of grief’, Mrs Everard said.
‘Outwardly we live our normal lives, but there is an inner sadness.’
She went on: ‘After four years, the shock of Sarah’s death has diminished but we are left with an overwhelming sense of loss and what might have been.
‘All the happy, ordinary things of life have been stolen from Sarah and us – there will be no wedding, no grandchildren, no family celebrations with everyone there.
‘Sarah will always be missing and I will always long for her.
‘I go through a turmoil of emotions – sadness, rage, panic, guilt and numbness. When I think of her, I still can’t get past the horrors of her last hours.
‘I am still tormented by the thought of what she endured.’
She described how her enduring grief ‘sits there quietly only to rear up suddenly and pierce our hearts’, adding: ‘I am accustomed to Sarah no longer being with us, but I rage against it.’
In part two of her inquiry, Dame Elish examined how Britain is tackling sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces after her part one report in 2024 examined the murder which shocked the nation.
Her report found that despite government and police promises to tackle violence against women, ‘too often prevention in this space remains just words’ due to a ‘troubling lack of momentum, funding and ambition’ to tackle the issue.
She concludes: ‘There are still too many victims because there are still many perpetrators of sexually motivated crimes who escape detection and prosecution.
‘With a greater spotlight on the safety of women in public, women should feel safer in public spaces, but many do not.’
The lawyer hit out at police for failing to follow her recommendations from her first report including that officers with convictions and cautions for sexual offences should be barred from policing.
She also warned of the impact of pornography, which Couzens was addicted to, saying the gap between the online and physical world is closing.
She added: ‘Online spaces are becoming increasingly violent and degrading places, where misogyny and hatred towards women not only flourishes but is disgustingly celebrated.’
Lady Elish has called for society to ‘stop normalising misogynistic perpetrator behaviour and attitudes’.
She said: ‘My report sets out how sexually motivated crimes against women remain widespread across public spaces in England and Wales, yet efforts to prevent them are fragmented, underfunded and overly reliant on short-term solutions.
‘Women deserve to feel safer. They deserve to be safer.’
She added: ‘I want leaders to quite simply get a move on. There are lives at stake.’
In her report, Scotland’s former lord advocate recommends that police use artificial intelligence to build profiles of perpetrators ‘to identify patterns in offending or behaviour – while not expecting or waiting for technology to provide a silver bullet’.
She criticised a ‘critical failure’ by police to gather data on male offenders, with basic questions about rape, sexual assault and indecent exposure going unanswered.
Dame Elish also backed calls for a ‘Good Samaritan Law’ following a campaign by the family of Zara Aleena who was killed by a stranger as she walked home in 2022.
The law would establish a legal expectation on bystanders to act by reporting or intervening if they see someone in danger.
Her new report makes a series of 13 recommendations including improved data collection, a national awareness campaign and prioritising prevention.
Dame Elish demanded urgent action, warning that many women’s lives could be at risk as the Christmas party season gets underway.
She concluded: ‘Too many opportunities to apprehend violent perpetrators have not been acted upon.
‘Too many women are victimised and too many lives are lost or irrevocably changed forever.’
In a further statement issued as the second report from the Angiolini Inquiry was published on Tuesday, the Everard family said they were ‘enormously grateful’ to its chairwoman.
They said: ‘The report is an impressive document and the result of painstaking and meticulous research and analysis.
‘It shows how much work there is to do in preventing sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces, but as a family, we find it heartening that many positive measures have been identified.’
They added: ‘Sarah is always in our thoughts, of course, and we feel the inquiry continues to honour her memory.
‘So, too, does it speak for all women who have been the victim of sexually motivated crimes in a public place and all those at risk.
‘We stand with them in recognising the urgent need for positive change and in expectation of a better future.’
Responding to the latest Angiolini Inquiry report, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: ‘Over four years on from Sarah Everard’s tragic murder, my thoughts today are with her family and all those who loved her.
‘As Home Secretary, I will do everything I can to ensure women and girls can live free from fear and harm – something Sarah was so cruelly denied.
‘I thank Lady Elish Angiolini for this vital report, which makes clear that women do not feel safe going about their lives today. This is utterly unacceptable and must change.’
She said a new £13.1million centre would ‘strengthen the police response to these crimes and drive real change’, but added: ‘More needs to be done.
‘We will carefully consider each recommendation the inquiry has made. This Government will halve violence against women and girls within a decade, and our upcoming VAWG strategy will set out how we achieve this.’
