Sarah Everard: Campaigners call for change two years on from murder
Today marks two years since Sarah was killed by a serving police officer
Campaigners have warned that Sarah Everard’s murder has not proved to be a watershed moment for institutions.
The 33-year-old marketing executive was kidnaped, raped and murdered by a serving Metropolitan Police officer.
Today (3 March) marks the second anniversary since Sarah was killed, after being abducted while walking home in Clapham, South London in 2021.
Jamie Klingler, co-founder of campaign group Reclaim These Streets which was established following Sarah’s death and held a vigil for her on Clapham Common, said: “First and foremost we have to think about the people that loved and the people that were Sarah’s and their private grief and what they’re going through will never end.”
She added: “What used to be a 2am conversation about male violence when girls were drunk and only ever within woman are happening in daylight hours and with our fathers and with our brothers and with our partners.
“But I don’t think it was a watershed moment institutionally, I don’t think anything has demonstrability been done and especially with what is happening with the police - if anything it feels like we’re going backwards.”
Murder Wayne Couzens, who is serving a whole life term, is set to be sentenced next week over three counts of indecent exposure from before he murdered Sarah.
Former Met Police Detective Chief Inspector Simon Harding, who worked on the investigation into Sarah's death, said: “You could see the devastation when people found out it was a police officer, obviously working on a case like that is hard anyway.
“But to find out it was one of your own was quite a shocking thing – there was quite a lot of upset people working on that case on that time. "
The force’s current commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has promised to reform Scotland Yard and provide “more trust, high standards and less crime” after multiple other scandals.
Harding believes concerns still remain about the vetting of officers, however, adding: “How has that managed to allow some of these people to get into the police service, either through normal, conventional methods or through transferring through other forces like Wayne Couzens did for example?”