Sarah Everard’s “devastating” murder was “entirely preventable”, campaigners have said, as they called for urgent reform of policing to restore women’s trust.
The Angiolini inquiry found that Wayne Couzens should never have been given a job as a police officer and that chances to stop him were repeatedly ignored or missed.
Elish Angiolini, the inquiry’s chair, said that without a radical overhaul of policing practices and culture, there was “nothing to stop another Couzens operating in plain sight”.
Responding to the damning 347-page report, women’s groups called on the government and the police to take urgent action to address the inquiry’s findings.
Harriet Wistrich, the director of the Centre for Women’s Justice, said: “The report must make devastating reading for the family of Sarah Everard who know now that her murderer could have been stopped many times before the ultimate horrific outcome.
“Its recommendations must of course be acted on not just by the Met police but by all forces across the country.”
The report said that as long as “vile behaviour and deeply abusive language” were normalised and accepted as banter in policing culture and elsewhere, “people like Couzens will be able to continue to commit atrocious crimes undetected”.
Wistrich said that those who failed to report wrongdoing and managers who did not “stamp out misogynistic culture within policing units” should also be held accountable.
Andrea Simon, the director of the End Violence Against Women coalition, said the government and police must work with women’s organisations “to transform the culture of policing to root out misogyny, racism and other forms of discrimination, and demonstrate transparency and accountability at all levels”.
She added: “It is absolutely devastating that the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard was entirely preventable. It is clear from this report that Couzens should never have been employed as a police officer or permitted to continue a career in policing.”
Following the publication of the inquiry, the home secretary, James Cleverly, told MPs that police officers would be automatically suspended in future if charged with certain criminal offences.
But Amy Bowdrey, a policy and public affairs officer at Refuge, said the government’s measures did not go far enough.
She said: “Refuge is calling on the government to act. Our message is clear: suspend officers and staff in policing accused of any form of violence against women and girls pending quick and thorough investigation.
“Vetting standards are far too low and must be urgently pulled up to standard. There should be zero tolerance to misogyny within policing, the consequences for women and girls are far too high.”
Claire Waxman, London’s commissioner for victims, said the report was “a difficult read”.
She posted on X: “This report is a defining moment and we must resolve to tackle VAWG [violence against women and girls] in all its forms and dismantle a culture that attracts officers who exploit and harm others.”
Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales, said the report was “seriously damning”, adding: “We can have no more empty words.”
Women’s Aid said that urgent reform was desperately needed to rebuild women’s trust in the justice system to ensure that no one had to go through the horror that Everard suffered.