UK police must act urgently to prevent sex crimes against women, says report

LONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters) – Police in Britain must act urgently to prevent sexual offences against women and girls and have shown a “troubling lack of momentum and ambition”, an inquiry into the case of a police officer jailed for murder four years ago stated on Tuesday.

Wayne Couzens was jailed for life in 2021 for abducting marketing executive Sarah Everard on a London street as she walked home, then raping and murdering her. The case shocked Britain and stirred protests over violence against women.

Couzens had abducted Everard using his police credentials and was linked to several cases of indecent exposure, which were not properly investigated, meaning police missed the chance to apprehend him.

The inquiry warned of a “troubling lack of momentum, funding and ambition for prevention work” by authorities and called for a fundamental shift of focus to programmes aimed at stopping known predators from offending and offenders from re-offending.

Authorities must ensure early intervention in cases of predatory behaviour, and investigate offences swiftly and effectively, the inquiry’s report added. It slammed current efforts as “fragmented, underfunded and overly reliant on short-term solutions.”

“This report should mark a turning point … the need for change is pressing and the evidence is clear,” said Elish Angiolini, who led the inquiry.

Britain’s interior minister Shabana Mahmood said the government would consider each of the inquiry’s recommendations and pledged to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.

“This is utterly unacceptable and must change,” Mahmood said in reaction to the report.

Around 900,000 people aged 16 and over in England and Wales experienced sexual assault in the 12 months to March, of which 739,000 were female, the Office for National Statistics said. The number of recorded sexual offences has increased over the last decade, it said.

The findings also highlighted a lack of progress on recommendations from the inquiry’s first report, published in February 2024, which called for a sweeping overhaul of police vetting procedures.

The inquiry had found serial failings in the vetting of Couzens meant that red flags were repeatedly missed, and he “could and should” have been stopped.

(Reporting by Muvija M; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)