Still critical gaps in funding and action to prevent sexual violence against women and girls in public spaces – The Angiolini Inquiry
Warning: This article contains information some people may find distressing.
Last updated 2nd Dec 2025
A ‘fundamental shift’ in the prevention of sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces is needed, according to an inquiry into women’s safety.
The report from the Angiolini Inquiry, which was launched following the murder of Sarah Everard, says not enough is being done to protect women from sexually motivated crimes in public spaces.
Sarah Everard was abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered by serving Met Police Officer Wayne Couzens, who was sentenced to a whole life prison order.
This latest report focusses on what measures are being done to protect women from sexually motivated crimes in public spaces now, and what further measures need to be done to prevent these types of crimes.
A lack of data
One major concern highlighted in the report is a lack of recorded data surrounding this type of violence against women and girls. Whilst data from the National Police Chief’s Council shows at least 1 in 12 women will be victims of gender-based violence, there is no single set of data that shows how many women have been raped in public spaces in the last year. There is also very limited data on the number of sexual assaults and indecent exposure in public places.
Despite a lack of crime data, the report says women have frequently reported the impact these crimes have on them. A survey carried out by the inquiry found that women are ‘routinely’ altering plans and their behaviour to try to stay safe. The report also warns how many women have ‘normalised’ sexual harassment and the state of being on high alert in parks and on public transport, especially at night’.
Lady Angiolini warns that, unless data around sexual motivated crimes in public spaces is gathered and recorded consistently across all police forces, patterns of offending cannot be spotted, which she describes as a ‘critical failure’.
A lack of funding
The report also highlights a ‘lack of momentum, funding and ambition for prevention work’ as well as shortfalls in the implementation of recommendations from the inquiries first report, released in February 2024.
The inquiry found that, despite violence against women and girls being classed as a ‘national threat’ in 2023, over a quarter of police forces have yet to bring in basic policies for investigating sexual offences. One recommendation from the previous report highlighted is the call for those with convictions or police cautions for sexual offences to be barred from policing. Lady Angiolini says this has not yet been put into place, with the government saying it is not due to be implemented until 2026.
Lady Angiolini says that, despite many structures and processes are in place to prevent this type of violence against women and girls, many of these initiatives are not supported with the required funding to meet scale of the challenge in tackling this issue.
The report says lack of funding combined with a lack of data created a ‘Catch-22 situation’ as a lack of data for the number of offences makes it impossible to judge the success of prevention measures. With a lack of evidence for success, funding these initiatives is made considerably harder.
Some positive signs of change
Whilst on a national level the inquiry says there is still a long way to go, it has also highlighted ‘many impressive and creative’ measures to prevent sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces by government departments, charities and academia.
Those who gave evidence to the inquiry said they had noticed an increase in activity to prevent sexually motivated crimes since 2021. It is believed the impact following Sarah Everard’s death, as well as the easy of restrictions from the Covid Lockdown, forced many spaces to re-evaluate and refocus their efforts to make public spaces safer for women.
Other successes mentioned in the report includes the use of apps to report incidents or feelings of being unsafe and the collaboration of individuals and companies to design spaces where women feel safe.
However, despite these successes, the inquiry says there must be decisive action to coordinate and boost these positive prevention measures to become more widespread and successful.
Shifting the focus to predators
The Inquiry recognised that, despite even the best processes in place, there will always be a number of individuals who pose a threat to women in public spaces and said these predators must be targeted with the ‘full weight’ of prevention activity’.
The report says women and girls are still being told their safety is ‘up to them’ and that they must change their behaviour to stay safe, instead of placing the blame and responsibility to change behaviour on those committing these offenses. The report says a greater emphasis should be placed on the preventing of perpetrators reoffending or offending in the first place.
Recommendations
In total, there are 13 new recommendations highlighted in this report following on from 16 recommendations set out in the first report in 2024.
These recommendations include:
Significantly improving the collection and use of data on sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces. This includes requiring police forces to record data on the relationship between perpetrators and victims and descriptions of the location of offenses.
The government should fund a multi-year series of public information campaigns focusing on prevention of these crimes in public spaces. The inquiry says that whilst these campaigns should be managed and funded by the UK Government, they should be rolled out regionally and locally with the same central messaging.
The Home Office should work with other governmental departments to increase and improve information and support for men and boys that create a culture of positive masculinity and prevent them from committing crimes against women and girls.
Government departments should prioritise targeting prevention material at perpetrators of sexually motivated crimes. This includes the creation of guidance for how to identify and target policing activity against potential perpetrators.
Reaction from the families of victims
In a statement reacting to today’s report, Sarah Everard’s family 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 and commended and, importantly, that Lady Elish has made a number of significant recommendations that we trust will be implemented.
‘They are practical and possible and will have far reaching consequences. They will benefit us all’.
Farah Naz, whose niece Zara Aleena was murdered in London as she was walking home, said the report outlined ‘systemic’ failures.
‘My Niece, Zara Aleena, was walking home. That is all she was doing. Her death, like Sarah’s, was preventable.
‘It occurred because warnings were missed, risks were overlooked and systems intended to safeguard the public did not function as they should. Zara’s case reflects the wider patterns identified so clearly in this report: systemic failure rather than isolated tragedy.
‘But acknowledgement alone is not enough. Reports must become reform. Reform must become implementation. And implementation must be measured, transparent and accountable’.