30 September 2021

‘Women are being picked off like big game,’ says heartbroken campaigner

30 September 2021

A campaigner has joined calls for the Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick to resign, saying women are terrified and being “picked off like big game”.

Jamie Klingler, who co-founded Reclaim These Streets, spoke outside the Old Bailey as Wayne Couzens was handed a whole life sentence for the murder of Sarah Everard on Thursday.

She told PA news agency: “It’s the only appropriate sentence for such an abhorrent crime which had abuse of power at its core.

“But it doesn’t bring her back.

“No life sentence would have been enough.

“Her family’s tragedy does not end today.

“We would have been outraged had it not been a life sentence.”

She said Couzens’ crime was “fundamentally preventable”, referring to allegations about prior incidents of indecent exposure being probed by the police watchdog.

“Being in a police department, being nicknamed the rapist and no-one stopping him?

“Indecent exposure and no-one is stopping him?

“It’s unfathomable.

“And it’s unfathomable that Cressida Dick stays in her position,” she said

She criticised the Met Commissioner, accusing her of being “dismissive” of Couzens, who was sacked from the force after pleading guilty to kidnap, rape and murder in July.

Ms Klingler said: “It’s not a bad apple.

“This man did this and he was one of yours and now they are trying to spin and say he was a former police officer, he was a serving police officer who used a warrant card to arrest her.

“I think Cressida Dick needs to resign.”

Ms Klingler said that hearing details of how Couzens abused his power to adbuct Ms Everard, even handcuffing her under the guise of a lockdown arrest, had “broken all of us”.

“I don’t think any of us had allowed ourselves to imagine how bad it was.”

She said “predatory behaviour” was the common thread of cases.

“They are picking us off like we are big game.

“It’s terrifying.

“We are all brokenhearted and scared and no-one cares enough to make it a fundamental priority.

“Everyone I’ve spoken to in the last two days has been in bits, it’s you and me, you know?”

Asked what the police could do better, she said: “How can they do any worse?

“It’s a bleak day and we are just desperately sad for her family.”

Earlier, Anna Birley, 32, also co-founder of Reclaim These Streets, called for a “culture change” within the Metropolitan Police and said the Government urgently needs to bring in new laws to protect women too.

Ms Birley, who is also a Labour and Co-operative councillor for Lambeth Council and helped organise several well-attended vigils for women murdered in London including an event in Clapham for Ms Everard, said “a wholesale change within our criminal justice system” is needed.

When asked if she thought the Government were failing to protect women from violent crime, Ms Birley said: “Yes.

“There have been opportunities for the Government to bring in new laws to protect women, they were proposed as parts of the Police (Crime, Sentencing and Courts) Bill by Harriet Harman and Caroline Nokes and others from all different parties, and the Government declined to take the opportunity to protect us.

“Instead we’ve seen lots of consultations, lots of reports, lots of nice words and very little action.”

Wayne Couzens speaking to Sarah Everard by the side of the road in Poynders Court, South London (Metropolitan Police/PA) (PA Media)

On whether anything has changed since the rape and murder of Ms Everard, she said: “What’s depressing is very little has changed.

“There’s some new funding for streetlighting, but it’s not very much and certainly not proportional to the scale of the problem and if the answer to violence against women and girls were a few more street lights and a bit better CCTV then it would have been solved decades ago.

“The Government needs to stop dilly-dallying and take tangible action to stop women from being killed.”

She added: “It’s wrong that so few women feel able to report sexual violence or rape.

“It’s wrong that when women of colour are the victim, they often feel like they’re not being believed or taken seriously; 1.4% of rapes result in a man being charged.

“That’s wrong and we need much better conviction rates and much more appropriate sentencing.

“And there are things that aren’t illegal but should be.

“You will get a fine for dropping litter, but you can kerb crawl a girl home from school without consequence.”

Data from the Home Office showed that in the 12 months to March, just 1.4% of 55,130 offences recorded by police led to prosecution.

Ms Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, was abducted near Clapham Common in south London in March this year.

Her rape and murder by off-duty Metropolitan Police officer Couzens prompted a widespread outpouring of grief and anger, as well as demonstrations over concern for women’s safety.

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