London murder case triggers fear about women's safety
Her case has led to an outpouring of personal accounts by women of their own experiences and fears of walking streets alone at night, and a campaign for action to address this.
Londoners protest after police officer charged with woman's murder
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
David Milliken and Natalie Thomas
Publishing date:Mar 13, 2021 • 2 hours ago • 2 minute read • comment bubbleJoin the conversation
A woman reacts at a memorial site in Clapham Common Bandstand, following the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard, in London, March 13, 2021.
A woman reacts at a memorial site in Clapham Common Bandstand, following the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard, in London, March 13, 2021. PHOTO BY HANNAH MCKAY /REUTERS
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LONDON — Police in London clashed with mourners and protesters on Saturday after more than a thousand people gathered to mark the killing of a 33-year-old woman, hours after the police officer charged with her murder appeared in court.
Sarah Everard’s disappearance as she walked home on the evening of March 3 had led to a wave of accounts from women about the dangers of walking streets alone at night, and dismay at the failure of police and wider society to tackle this.
Early on Saturday an impromptu memorial with flowers and candles sprang up around the bandstand on Clapham Common in southwest London, near where Everard was last seen alive.
Kate, Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge, was among those who paid their respects. A palace official said Kate “remembers what it was like to walk around London at night before she was married.”
By late on Saturday around a thousand people – mostly women – gathered at the site to pay their respects and protest at the lack of security they felt when out alone. Some chanted “shame on you” at police who were present.
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Campaign groups had wanted to organize a formal vigil, but London’s Metropolitan Police said people should not gather due to coronavirus restrictions. The head of the force, Cressida Dick, said any vigil “would be unlawful and would be unsafe.”
As tensions mounted, Reuters witnesses saw police drag several women away from the gathering on Clapham Common.
Police were not immediately able to say how many people they had arrested.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan – who is responsible for policing in the city – said officers’ response “was at times neither appropriate or proportionate” and added that he was seeking an urgent explanation from Dick.
Labour Party leader Keir Starmer called the scenes “deeply disturbing” and Conservative interior minister Priti Patel said she too wanted answers from police about “upsetting” images.
Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he and his partner Carrie Symonds would light a candle in memory of Everard.
“I will do everything I can to make sure the streets are safe and ensure women and girls do not face harassment or abuse,” he said.
Appearing at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday morning, 48-year-old police officer Wayne Couzens, wearing a grey tracksuit, spoke only to confirm his identity.
Couzens’s lawyer did not enter a plea to the charges of kidnap and murder ahead of a fuller court hearing scheduled for Tuesday. Couzens remains in custody.
Police discovered Everard’s body on Wednesday in woodland about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of London. The court heard that her body was found in a builder’s refuse bag, and was identified using dental records.
Couzens joined the Metropolitan Police in 2018 and guarded foreign embassies before his arrest.
England’s police watchdog has launched an investigation into the Metropolitan Police’s handling of the case.
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Londoners protest after police officer charged with woman's murder
LONDON — Police in London clashed with mourners and protesters on Saturday after more than a thousand people gathered to mark the killing of a 33-year-old…torontosun.com
U.K. cops face backlash after dragging mourners from vigil for murdered woman
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Publishing date:Mar 14, 2021 • 3 hours ago • 2 minute read • comment bubbleJoin the conversation
Women mourn at a memorial site at the Clapham Common Bandstand, following the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard, in London, Britain March 14, 2021.
Women mourn at a memorial site at the Clapham Common Bandstand, following the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard, in London, Britain March 14, 2021. PHOTO BY HENRY NICHOLLS /REUTERS
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LONDON — London police faced a backlash from the public and politicians on Sunday for their heavy-handed tactics in breaking up an outdoor vigil for a woman whose suspected killer is a police officer.
The disappearance of Sarah Everard, 33, as she walked home on the evening of March 3, has provoked a huge outpouring of grief and dismay in Britain at the failure of police and wider society to tackle violence against women.
Police had denied permission for a vigil on Saturday evening at London’s Clapham Common, near where Everard was last seen alive, citing regulations aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus.
But hundreds of people, mostly women, gathered peacefully at the park in defiance of the ban to pay their respects to Everard throughout the day, including Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge.
Late on Saturday dozens of police officers marched into the crowd to shouts of “shame on you.” Scuffles broke out and officers dragged women away from the scene.
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“Last night people were very, very upset, there was a great deal of emotion, completely understandably, and the police, being as they are operationally independent, will be having to explain that to the Home Secretary,” safeguarding minister Victoria Atkins told Sky News.
Home Secretary Priti Patel, the minister in charge of policing, described footage of the incident as “upsetting.” The BBC reported she had ordered an independent inquiry after an initial police report left some questions unanswered.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan also said he was not satisfied with police chiefs’ explanation of the events and officers’ conduct must be examined.
An image of officers handcuffing a woman as she lay on the floor was widely shared and condemned on social media.
The woman, Patsy Stevenson, told LBC radio: “The main point that everyone was trying to get across when everything happened is that women don’t feel safe, they don’t feel safe walking down a street and that’s the bare minimum we should feel the freedom to do.”
She said she was fined 200 pounds for breaching COVID regulations
Everard’s murder has resonated with woman across the country, prompting thousands to share on social media their experiences of violence and sexual assaults perpetrated by men, and vividly describe the daily fear they feel.
A steady flow of quiet mourners visited the site of the vigil on Sunday, placing flowers around a bandstand.
“I feel very angry that they think that they have the right to dictate how we mourn and how we react,” 24-year old student Lilith Blackwell told Reuters at the bandstand.
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball defended the officers’ actions and said they were faced with a very difficult decision.
“Hundreds of people were packed tightly together, posing a very real risk of easily transmitting Covid-19,” she said.
A police officer charged with Everard’s murder appeared in court on Saturday. Police discovered her body on Wednesday in woodland about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of London. The court heard that her body was found in a builder’s refuse bag, and identified using dental records.
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U.K. cops face backlash after dragging mourners from vigil for murdered woman
LONDON — London police faced a backlash from the public and politicians on Sunday for their heavy-handed tactics in breaking up an outdoor vigil for a woman…torontosun.com
London murder case triggers fear about women's safety
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Kate Holton
Publishing date:Mar 11, 2021 • 2 hours ago • 3 minute read • comment bubbleJoin the conversation
Sarah Everard is pictured in this police handout photo.
Sarah Everard is pictured in this police handout photo. PHOTO BY HANDOUT /Metropolitan Police photo
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LONDON — Women in Britain poured out their fears and anger over how unsafe they feel walking the streets after the disappearance of a woman in London and the arrest of a police officer on suspicion of her kidnap and murder.
Sarah Everard, 33, was last seen at 9:30 p.m. on March 3 as she walked home from a friend’s house in south London. Her image, smiling at the camera or caught on CCTV that evening, has been splashed across British newspapers all week.
Anxiety turned to grief after news late on Wednesday that police investigating Everard’s disappearance had found remains in a wood outside London, resulting in an outpouring of personal accounts by women of their own experiences and fears.
“The disappearance of Sarah and the absolute tragedy around that has really touched a nerve with a lot of women,” said Anna Birley, 31, one of the organizers of a planned “Reclaim These Streets” vigil to honor Everard and demand change.
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“We feel really angry that it’s an expectation put on women that we need to change our behavior to stay safe. The problem isn’t women, the problem is that women aren’t safe on our streets,” said Birley.
Women flooded social media with posts about the steps they take when out alone at night to keep safe, including clutching keys to use as a weapon and wearing trainers to help them run. Many raged at the violence against women that made them feel they had to take such measures.
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Others detailed a catalog of incidents of harassment by men in public over the decades since they were schoolgirls.
“These are so powerful because each and every woman can relate,” Home Secretary (interior minister) Priti Patel said. “Every woman should feel safe to walk on our streets without fear of harassment or violence.”
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Legislator Jess Phillips, the opposition Labour Party’s policy chief on domestic violence, read out in the chamber of the House of Commons the names of all 118 women murdered by men in the United Kingdom last year.
“The message that needs to be sent is that male violence is something that has to be tackled and challenged and the justice system and society has to wake up to that,” said Phillips.
The head of London’s police force, Cressida Dick, said she and her colleagues were “utterly appalled” at news that a police officer had been arrested in connection with Everard’s abduction, sparking a wave of shock and anger.
An undated handout picture released by the Metropolitan Police on March 10, 2021, shows CCTV footage of missing Sarah Everard on March 3, as she walked along the A205 Poynders Road, from the junction with Cavendish Road, in the direction of Tulse Hill in south London
An undated handout picture released by the Metropolitan Police on March 10, 2021, shows CCTV footage of missing Sarah Everard on March 3, as she walked along the A205 Poynders Road, from the junction with Cavendish Road, in the direction of Tulse Hill in south London PHOTO BY METROPOLITAN POLICE /AFP via Getty Images
Police on Thursday were given extra time to question the officer, whose job is to guard diplomatic buildings, on suspicion of kidnap, murder and indecent exposure.
A woman in her 30s, who media said was his wife, was also detained on suspicion of assisting an offender, but has since been released on police bail.
England’s police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, said it had launched an investigation into the London police force’s handling of the case.
The arrested officer was reported to police on Feb. 28 over allegations of indecent exposure in a south London fast food restaurant, several days before Everard disappeared.
The watchdog also said it would look closer at how the suspect sustained head injuries that required hospital treatment, which police said occurred while he was alone in his cell.
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Dick sought to reassure women, saying it was “incredibly rare” for a woman to be abducted from the streets.
“But I completely understand that despite this, women in London and the wider public, particularly those in the area where Sarah went missing, will be worried and may well be feeling scared,” she said.
Although the remains have not yet been formally identified, Everard’s family paid tribute, saying their “beautiful daughter Sarah was taken from us and we are appealing for any information that will help to solve this terrible crime.”
“Sarah was bright and beautiful – a wonderful daughter and sister. She was kind and thoughtful, caring and dependable,” the family said in a statement.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was shocked and deeply saddened by developments in the case.
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The “Reclaim These Streets” vigil will take place on Saturday in Clapham Common in southwest London, near where Everard was last seen.
View attachment 6858
London murder case triggers fear about women's safety
LONDON — Women in Britain poured out their fears and anger over how unsafe they feel walking the streets after the disappearance of a woman in London and the…torontosun.com
How do you know he's the murderer? Do you know something we don't? They've arrested a woman, too. It could be her.View attachment 7005
The face of evil..
He's lucky this young girl wasn't my sister or family, he wouldn't make it to prison..