Priti Patel says ‘majority’ of police serve with ‘utmost integrity’ in wake of Sarah Everard disappearance

‘Tens of thousands of police officers are equally sickened by what has happened,’ the home secretary said

Home secretary Priti Patel has said the“vast majority” of police officers “represent the very best of public service” in the wake of the arrest of a constable over Sarah Everard’s disappearance.

Wayne Couzens, a Metropolitan Police officer, remains in custody after being held on suspicion of Ms Everard’s murder and kidnapping on Tuesday.

Ms Patel wrote in The Sun newspaper that “an awful incident like this is in incredibly rare” and that “tens of thousands” of officers are “sickened” by what has happened.

“The police hold positions of trust in our communities and it is deeply disturbing to imagine that someone who we would all put our faith in if in danger could allegedly be responsible for such an abhorrent crime,” she said.

“However, the professionalism and conduct I have witnessed through my own engagement with the police since Sarah’s disappearance has reminded me that the vast majority of police officers serve with the utmost integrity and represent the very best of public service.

“Please try to remember that tens of thousands of police officers are equally sickened by what has happened, and there are ­currently hundreds of dedicated officers working night and day to bring the perpetrator to ­justice under the leadership of the first female Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Dame Cressida Dick.”

The home secretary added the government was developing a new national strategy to tackle violence against women and girls, to be published later this year. It will be informed by responses to a survey of women’s experiences of gender-based violence.

According to The Telegraph, the government is considering implementing a new law to try to protect women from public sexual harassment.

Nimco Ali, a campaigner appointed by Ms Patel to advise the government on its new strategy, wrote in the newspaper that tolerating public harassment “makes it easier for serious crimes of physical and sexual violence to happen”.

“Street harassment is absolutely a form of violence towards women and girls and it currently goes unreported and unpunished,” she added.

Ms Everard’s disappearance shortly after leaving a friend’s house in Clapham, south London, on 3 March has sparked an outpouring of grief and anger among women online.

Campaigners have organised on Clapham Common for female victims of violence, but say police have told them that the gathering would be unlawful because of Covid-19 restrictions.