Boris Johnson Says Women Should Still "Trust The Police" After Sarah Everard Murder
2 min read
Boris Johnson has said women should still "trust the police" after the murder of Sarah Everard, and has refused to confirm there will be a public inquiry into Met Police failures in the run up to her death.
Everard, 33, was kidnapped, raped and murdered by serving Met police officer Wayne Couzens under the guise of an arrest in March.
Lord Ian Blair, a former Met Police commissioner, has said a public inquiry must be carried out into the force's failings in Couzens' vetting and failures to arrest him for other sexual offences.
But speaking on the Andrew Marr Show, Boris Johnson refused to confirm a public inquiry would take place.
In response to a question on whether the inquiry would take place, Johnson said: "I think the IOPC needs to get to the bottom of the circumstances surrounding Wayne Couzens, we need to find out exactly what happened. We need to look into all this sharing of WhatsApps stuff by members of the Met. We need to get to the bottom of what has happened."
It has been revealed that a WhatsApp group involving constables from three forces is under investigation after Couzens’s phone was seized – it allegedly contains misogynistic and racist messages. Two Met Police officers in the group are reportedly still on duty.
Johnson said the public should not lose faith in the police, telling Andrew Marr: "I think people should trust the police, and I think it’s very, very important that people should have confidence in our police."
He added: "Up and down the country, there will be literally hundreds of thousands of police men and women who will be utterly sickened by what happaned, by the murder of Sarah Everard.
"I think where you’re right, completely, is to refer to that feeling amongst millions of people. I think what’s going on is that the murder of Sarah Everard and the way it has happened has triggered the feelings of huge numbers of people about what is going on in the handling of crimes, of sexual and domestic violence, and also rape. And the way we deal with those crimes, and the way the police deal with those crimes."
It has also been revealed that Couzens was deployed to the Parliamentary Estate five times on several occasions last year. The speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, has asked for an urgent meeting with the Met Police over the disclosure.
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