sarah everard's mother 'still tormented by the horror of her final hours'

The latest report from the Angiolini Inquiry included a powerful statement from the mother of Sarah Everard,Susan (Picture: Family Handout/PA Wire)

The mother of Sarah Everard has described how she is still ‘tormented by the thought of what she endured’,as an inquiry set up in the wake of her murder reported that too many perpetrators are still getting away with their crimes.

In a powerful statement to coincide with the publication of the latest report from the Angiolini Inquiry,Susan Everard said she still feels rage and sadness over her daughter’s death.

Ms Everard,a 33-year-old marketing executive,was abducted,raped and murdered as she walked home by a former armed Metropolitan Police officer in south London in March 2021.

In a foreword to the latest report,Mrs Everard said: ‘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.

‘I have been changed by it,but there is nothing to see. Outwardly we live our normal lives,but there is an inner sadness.

‘People who do know are unfailingly kind and have helped more than they will ever know. We are not the only ones to lose a child,of course,and we form a sad bond with other bereaved parents.

‘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 from 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. They used to come all in one day but as time goes by they are more widely spaced and,to some extent,time blunts the edges.

‘I am not yet at the point where happy memories of Sarah come to the fore. When I think of her,I can’t get past the horror of her last hours. I am still tormented by the thought of what she endured.

‘We find we still appreciate the lovely things of life,but,without Sarah,there is no unbridled joy. And grief is unpredictable – it sits there quietly only to rear up suddenly and pierce our hearts.

‘They say that the last stage of grief is acceptance. I am not sure what that means. I am accustomed to Sarah no longer being with us,but I rage against it.’

The Angiolini Inquiry was launched after Ms Everard’s death to investigate how Couzens was able to carry out his crimes,and look at wider issues within policing and women’s safety.

Inquiry chairwoman Lady Elish Angiolini makes a statement at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in central London (Picture: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)

In the latest report from the inquiry,looking at sex crimes against women in public places,Lady Elish Angiolini said there is a ‘critical failure’ to answer basic questions about sex crimes against women – including how many are raped by strangers each year.

Speaking to journalists as the report was published,she said: ‘What is of great concern to me,still,is that basic questions cannot be answered.

‘No-one was able to confidently tell me how many women nationally report being the victim of sexually motivated crimes in public spaces.

‘This gap in knowledge fundamentally impacted my ability to assess how effective current measures are at preventing these crimes.

‘For example,we cannot answer basic questions such as “how many women were raped by strangers in public spaces,as opposed to someone known to them,in private spaces in England and Wales last year”,and there is limited data on sexual assault and indecent exposure.

‘If this data is not being gathered and recorded consistently across forces,how can it be analysed to spot patterns in offending? This is a critical failure.’

She said that the focus should be on stopping perpetrators rather than changing women’s behaviour,and that data on offenders is ‘limited and disjointed’.

Ms Everard,raped and murdered as she walked home (Picture: PA)

Lady Elish continued: ‘Too many perpetrators are slipping through the cracks in an overworked system; police,prison and probation resources are overstretched and underfunded.’

Home Office minister Jess Phillips called women feeling unsafe as they go about their everyday lives a ‘national emergency’,as she described the Angiolini Inquiry report as ‘substantial and significant’.

She told the Commons: ‘While it acknowledges that there is a range of ongoing work which seeks to prevent these terrible crimes and disrupt predators,it also highlights that there is no quick fix and demands a more consistent approach across the whole of society to address and prevent this violence.’

Ms Phillips said the UK is at a ‘moment of reckoning’ concerning sex crimes against women.

She pledged that the government’s upcoming violence against women and girls strategy would deliver a ‘bold step change’.

Ms Phillips said: ‘I am confident it will live up to expectations,to deliver consistent protections for women and girls,and progress has fallen short.

‘We find ourselves at the moment of reckoning.

‘As someone who has spent their working life trying to secure real,lasting change,I know it will not be easy,but in honour of the victims and their families and for the sake of women and girls across England and Wales,we must succeed.

‘This Government won’t stop until we have.’

Home Office minister Jess Phillips told MPs women feeling unsafe as they go about their everyday lives is a ‘national emergency’ (Picture: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)

Violence against women and girls has been classed as a national threat,but effective national action on prevention is not being taken,Lady Elish found.

‘Too often prevention in this space remains just words,’ she said.

‘Until this disparity is addressed,violence against women and girls cannot credibly be called a national priority.’

Funding is difficult to secure because of the lack of data to prove the success of prevention schemes,the report found,and there is an ‘unacceptable level of inconsistency across England and Wales’.

The report also found that there is still no automatic bar to being a police officer or staff member for those who have a conviction for sexual offences.

Lady Elish said: ‘The police need to draw a clear bright line that shows that those with convictions or cautions for sexual offences have no place in policing.’

The aunt of murdered Zara Aleena welcomed the inquiry’s backing for her calls for a Good Samaritan law,requiring witnesses to act when they see someone in danger.

Farah Naz said: ‘I hope this recommendation is taken seriously and progresses with the urgency and commitment these cases demand.’

Lady Elish Angiolini found here is a ‘critical failure’ to answer basic questions about sex crimes against women (Picture: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)

Last year the first phase of the Angiolini published its findings into Couzens’ policing career and discovered he should never have been given a job as a police officer.

The inquiry found chances to stop the sexual predator were repeatedly ignored and missed,and Lady Elish warned without a radical overhaul of policing practices and culture,there is ‘nothing to stop another Couzens operating in plain sight’.

Andrea Simon,director of the End Violence Against Women coalition,said: ‘This inquiry confirms what women and girls have been telling us for years: that the threat and reality of men’s violence restricts our everyday lives and efforts to prevent it remain piecemeal,short-term and chronically underfunded.

‘We welcome the report’s focus on long-term,whole-society prevention and on addressing perpetrator’s behaviour. For too long,society has enabled this abuse and placed the burden on women to keep themselves safe.

‘It is deeply concerning that,nearly two years on,policing has still not implemented basic reforms such as a ban on officers with sexual offence histories.

‘Which is why more undercover police officers,as recommended with the rollout of Project Vigilance,cannot be the answer to police-perpetrated abuse.

‘Women cannot be expected to trust a system that resists naming misogyny and racism,and continually fails to change.

‘It is essential we do not limit our thinking to the criminal justice system,that we treat online spaces as public spaces and long-term prevention efforts are prioritised and properly funded.’

Couzens was sentenced to a whole-life order for Ms Everard’s murder,meaning he will never be released from prison (Picture: PA)

Responding to the latest stage of the inquiry,Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said it is ‘utterly unacceptable’ that women do not feel safe and that the Government will ‘carefully consider’ the inquiry’s recommendations.

She said a new £13.1 million centre will strengthen the police response,and repeated the Government’s pledge to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.

A second report from part two of the inquiry will be published next year,looking at whether there is a risk of issues from the first phase happening again,such as failures in police vetting,police culture and poor police investigation into reports of sexual offences.

A third phase of the inquiry will consider the crimes of David Carrick – who also served in the Met’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command and was handed 36 life sentences in 2023 after being unmasked as a serial rapist.

Earlier this month he was handed another life sentence for molesting a 12-year-old girl and raping a former partner.