The murder of Sarah Everard seemed unfathomable when the details first emerged. A young woman who should have had many years of life ahead of her was not merely failed by police who should have kept her safe, as so many women before her have been. She was murdered by a serving Metropolitan police officer, Wayne Couzens, who stopped and handcuffed her as she walked home before raping and strangling her and burning her body. His record of predatory behaviour soon emerged.
Yet three years on, the truth is even more shocking than it first seemed. The report by Lady Elish Angiolini, commissioned by the Home Office and published on Thursday, makes it clear that Couzens should never have been able to become a police officer, let alone an armed one. Three forces “could and should have stopped him”, but “red flags” were repeatedly ignored.
