Sarah Everard report: "Nothing to stop another Couzens operating in plain sight”
The 33-year-old, originally from York was murdered in March 2021
Wayne Couzens, the Metropolitan police officer who abducted, raped and murdered Sarah Everard in South London, should “never have been a police officer” according to a report published today.
In this report, the inquiry chair Lady Elish Angiolini has called for a “radical overhaul” of police vetting and recruitment, and for a fundamental change to police response to indecent exposure.
Lady Angiolini said “there is nothing to stop another Couzens operating in plain sight” without a significant overhaul. She has also called for people in authority in every police force in the country to read the report and “take immediate action”.
Sarah Everard, who was originally from York was abducted by Couzens as she was walking home at just after 930pm on the 3rd of March 2021 in Clapham.
Couzens had used police-issue equipment to falsely arrest her.
The report, which is Part 1 of the Angiolini inquiry, highlights how police recruitment, vetting and investigations “repeatedly failed” to spot “red flags” about his unsuitability for office. It also focusses on how “real opportunities” to stop Couzens’ offending and end his policing career were missed, because of failures in investigations into allegations of indecent exposure.
The report also highlights how Kent Police “failed adequately to investigate two reports of indecent exposure, missing opportunities to bring him to justice.”
In a statement responding to the report, Sarah Everard’s family said that it is “obvious” that Couzens should never have been a police officer, adding that they believe Sarah died “because he was a police officer” saying “she never would have got into a stranger’s car”.
According to the Inquiry, red flags being “repeatedly” ignored meant he could serve in three separate police forces, including as an authorised firearms officer despite his history of “excessive spending and personal debt”. Lady Angiolini added that vetting processes missed crucial information – including linking Couzens to an incident of indecent exposure.
16 recommendations have been made in the report, which Lady Angiolini has described as “not all new” – going on to say that failures of investigations, HR processes and vetting policy and practice are “a depressingly familiar refrain in policing.”
The recommendations have specific timeframes – with police forces being told to ensure they have a specialist policy on investigating sexual offences, including ‘non-contact’ offences such as indecent exposure, by September this year at the latest.
The Inquiry has also called for the National Police Chiefs Council to conduct a review of all allegations of indecent exposure and other sexual offences recorded in their systems against serving officers, which is again expected to be done by September.
By June this year, organisations such as the College Of Policing should also take “further steps” to stop those unsuitable for policing joining the profession, according to the report.
In a statement, Lady Angiolini stated that Sarah’s “life was cut short by the most unimaginable cruelty” adding that she wanted to “pay tribute to her loving family”.
In another part of the statement, Lady Angiolini alluded to the enormous public reaction to Sarah’s murder, saying it “triggered a surge of discourse about women’s safety in public spaces” and “started a tidal wave of reporting on police misconduct.”
Part 2 of the inquiry is set to focus on a “broader, national consideration of police vetting and recruitment, police culture and standards and the protection of women in public spaces.”
There will also be a third part to the Inquiry, investigating the crimes and career of fellow former Metropolitan Police Officer David Carrick.
Work on both Part 2 and 3 is underway.