Wayne Couzens report live: Sarah Everard’s killer ‘should have been stopped from being a police officer’

Former home secretary Dame Priti Patel said police forces around the country need to “raise the bar” when it comes to vetting and action.

Dame Priti said she hoped the Angiolini Inquiry report had given Sarah Everard’s family “some sense of the facts that they asked for around what happened to their beautiful daughter”.

She told the Commons: “This is a clear call for action when it comes to all police forces around the country to raise the bar on consistency, as has already been mentioned, when it comes not just to vetting but to action. There is no place for criminal conduct at all or corrupt conduct in policing, we police by consent in our country and that bond has been broken.”

Andrea Simon, Director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said: “Today we’re thinking of Sarah Everard, her loved ones and all who may be affected by the horrifying details being reported today.

“Understanding the systemic failings that enabled Couzens to do what he did will never detract from his responsibility for the horrific crimes he committed against Sarah Everard. But in showing us the missed opportunities that might have prevented a police officer from being free to commit rape and murder, it moves us closer to stopping other police officers from abusing their power and status to harm women and girls.

She added that women’s organisations had long called for non-contact sexual offences and such as indecent exposure and online abuse to be taken seriously, given that they often indicate a pattern of offending.

“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,” she added.

“The government and police leaders must urgently heed the inquiry’s recommendations and work with expert 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.

“We will not accept any more failings, excuses, and missed opportunities to prevent police perpetrating violence against women and children.”

The Government was “repeatedly warned about failures around vetting and misconduct” in the police, Yvette Cooper said, including reports in 2012, 2019, 2022, and in 2023 which all highlighted “serious failures in vetting procedures”.

The shadow home secretary added: “I called two years ago for mandatory national vetting standards. Individual forces are working hard, but there isn’t mandatory standards for all forces.

“All the Government has done is brought in a code of practice two-and-a-half years after Sarah Everard’s murder, which isn’t strong enough.”

She also claimed James Cleverly’s announcement on automatic suspensions for officers “does not go far enough”.

The Home Secretary said he did not think it was fair to say nothing had changed in police culture and processes in recent years, adding: “I understand the frustration that not enough has happened, it has not moved fast enough, there is cultural change that still needs to be driven through.”

Speaking in the House of Commons, Labour MP Yvette Cooper said: “It [report] exposes a catalogue of appalling failures in the police vetting and misconduct processes and in investigating indecent exposure and sexual offences.

“Wayne Couzens should never have been a police officer. He should have been stopped and he could have been stopped from being a police officer.

“It is appalling his history of alleged sexual offending stretches back so many years and yet so many opportunities to investigate were repeatedly missed and most disturbingly, there is nothing to stop another Wayne Couzens operating in plain sight.”

Anna Birley, co-founder of Reclaim These Streets, which staged a high profile vigil in the wake of Miss Everard’s murder, said it will be difficult for women to trust police until the inquiry’s recommendations are embraced by the government.

She told The Independent: “It’s the worst kind of broken record – inquiry after inquiry describing serious failings in police policy, processes and culture but time and again an utter lack of action or change.

“Misogyny still thrives within policing culture, warning signs are missed and dangerous men operate in positions of authority in plain sight.

“The report is a grim read, and Lady Elish has done a thoughtful and thorough job but until the Home Secretary makes the inquiry and its findings statutory I don’t trust that the necessary reforms will be implemented.

“Until then, it will be difficult for women to trust that there are not predators among the ranks of the people tasked with keeping them safe.”

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has vowed to ensure “lessons are learned” from the Angiolini Inquiry.

Mr Khan, who is also the equivalent of the police and crime commissioner for the capital, said in a statement: “The report by Dame Elish Angiolini shines a light on systematic failings in police investigations, vetting and the handling of misconduct allegations. We all need to closely examine and consider all the findings of the inquiry.

“I’m determined to ensure lessons are learned and acted upon quickly by the police as part of a process of major reform – not just in London, but across the country – to raise standards, strengthen vetting and, above all else, prevent anything like this from ever happening again.”

He added that police regulations must be “strengthened” to make it harder for those who have faced serious allegations about their behaviour to join any police force.

“And police disciplinary processes must be reformed to make it easier and quicker to remove officers who fall below the high standards rightly expected of those who are entrusted to keep us safe,” he said.

“As I have been saying for some time, the public deserve better from the Met and police forces across the country. There must be no hiding place for those who abuse their position of trust and authority within the police.”

Kent Police has apologised for failing to properly investigate when Wayne Couzens was reported for indecent exposure in 2015.

In a statement, the force said: “Everyone at Kent Police is shocked, appalled and disgusted by the crimes Wayne Couzens committed against Sarah Everard and we share in the collective grief for her loss.

“Part I of the Angiolini Inquiry report has been made available to us today, and whilst we continue to carefully consider its contents we fully accept the recommendations made of Kent Police.

“We also accept our investigation into a 2015 incident of indecent exposure was flawed due to it being allocated to an officer who was not a trained investigator, and apologise for this failing.”

The Government will “thoroughly consider the recommendations” made by Lady Elish Angiolini in her report into Sarah Everard’s murder by Wayne Couzens, the Home Office said.

“Since 2021, the Government has been driving forward a body of work to strengthen the way police officers are vetted, scrutinised and disciplined, and more broadly, efforts to put a stop to violence against women and girls,” the department said in its response to the inquiry.

“However, the report today highlights the need for further action and the Government, in tandem with policing partners, will thoroughly consider the recommendations made by Lady Elish and respond in full in due course.”

Responding to the report, home secretary James Cleverly said: “The act of pure evil committed against Sarah shocked the nation to its core. My heart goes out to Sarah’s family and to all the brave victims who came forward to help inform this report and drive change.

“The man who committed these crimes is not a reflection on the majority of dedicated police officers working day in, day out to help people. But Sarah was failed in more ways than one by the people who were meant to keep her safe, and it laid bare wider issues in policing and society that need to be urgently fixed.

“In the three years since, a root and stem clean-up of the policing workforce has been underway and we have made huge strides – as well as making tackling violence against women and girls a national policing priority to be treated on par with terrorism.

“But we will continue to do everything in our power to protect women and girls. I am grateful to Lady Elish for her meticulous investigation. Her insights will be invaluable as we move forward in supporting our police to build forces of the highest standards of integrity and regain the trust of the British public.”

In her lengthy report, Dame Elish revealed that Couzens’ allegedly tried to kidnap a woman at knifepoint in north London. He would have been aged 23 at the time, and the incident was not reported to the Met Police at the time.

The woman came forward after recognising Couzens following his arrest for the murder of Miss Everard.

During the mid-1990s, he was also accused of carrying out a “very serious sexual assault of a child barely in her teens”, as well as exposing himself towards a teenage girl in south London in 2004. It was not reported at the time but similarily, the woman came forward after Miss Everard’s murder.

Couzens is also accused of raping a woman at a singles night at a bar in east London between late 2006 and early 2007, as well as another allegation of rape in October 2019 which took place under a bridge.

In the summer of 2019, he is accused of sexually assaulting a man dressed in drag at a bar in Kent. He told the victim that he was a police officer and invited him outside to perform a sex act, with the man coming forward to police following Couzens’ arrest in 2021.