Home Secretary has launched an inquiry to investigate the issues
raised by the conviction of Wayne Couzens.
The Home Secretary shares the public’s concern at the appalling
circumstances of the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard,
and that the abuse of power by a serving Metropolitan Police
officer risks undermining public confidence in the police. She is
determined to do everything in her power to deliver improvements
within policing and across the criminal justice system.
The inquiry will be made up of two parts. The first part will
examine Wayne Couzens’ previous behaviour and will establish a
definitive account of his conduct leading up to his conviction,
as well as any opportunities missed, drawing on the Independent
Office for Police Conduct’s (IOPC) investigations, once
concluded.
The second part will look at any specific issues raised by the
first part of the inquiry, which could include wider issues
across policing – including vetting practices, professional
standards and discipline, and workplace behaviour.
Additionally, the Home Secretary will write to the independent
police inspectorate HMICFRS to commission a thematic inspection
of vetting and counter-corruption procedures in policing across
England and Wales – including forces’ ability to detect and deal
with misogynistic and predatory behaviour. She has asked for
initial findings by the end of 2021, and these will be used to
inform the inquiry into Couzens.
The inquiry will also draw on the conclusions of current
investigations by the IOPC into various allegations and incidents
throughout Couzens’ career.
Given the need to provide assurance as swiftly as possible, this
will be established as a non-statutory inquiry, but can be
converted to a statutory inquiry if required.
The Chair and Terms of Reference for the inquiry will be
confirmed in due course.
The Inquiry is as important for the brave, dedicated, and
hard-working men and women in our police service, as it is for
the public at large. They rightly want, and expect, their
colleagues in policing across the country to uphold the same
standards and values that they do – and this inquiry therefore
seeks to deliver for them as well as the public.
In addition, the Prime Minister will launch a Home
Secretary-chaired taskforce to drive cross-government action on
tackling violence against women and girls to help maintain public
confidence in policing. It will consider recommendations from the
Inspectorate’s review of the police’s response to Violence
Against Women and Girls, led by , as well as the Tackling Violence Against Women
and Girls Strategy, the End-to-End Rape Review, and the
forthcoming Domestic Abuse Strategy.
It will also look at how the police currently assess risk, threat
and harm to the general public when responding to and
investigating non-contact sexual offences (e.g. flashing), which
we know may lead to more serious or repeat offending.
The new group will report into the Crime and Justice Taskforce
chaired by the Prime Minister. Minister for Crime and Policing,
, and Maggie Blyth, the newly appointed top cop for
Violence Against Women and Girls, will also attend. It will meet
for the first time in the autumn.
Home Secretary said:
“Recent tragic events have exposed unimaginable failures in
policing.
“It is abhorrent that a serving police officer was able to abuse
his position of power, authority and trust to commit such a
horrific crime.
“The public have a right to know what failures enabled his
continued employment as a police officer and an inquiry will give
the independent oversight needed to ensure something like this
can never happen again.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
- The IOPC is currently conducting
a number of investigations into matters linked to Wayne
Couzens. These include the handling of allegations of indecent
exposure by Kent Police in 2015 and the Metropolitan Police in
2021
