London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Sarah Everard: Female officers 'fear reporting male colleagues'

Sarah Everard: Female officers 'fear reporting male colleagues'

Female police officers fear reporting male colleagues as they worry they will be abandoned if they need help on duty, says a former senior officer.

Ex-Met Ch Supt Parm Sandhu said female officers fear being "kicked in" while dealing with street violence.

And a police watchdog inspector has admitted she would be concerned to approach a lone male officer at night.

They were speaking after Wayne Couzens was jailed for kidnapping, raping and killing Sarah Everard while an officer.

The 48-year-old abducted Ms Everard, 33, under the guise of an arrest as she walked home from a friend's home in south London on 3 March.

Speaking to Radio 4's The World at One, Ms Sandhu called the police service "very sexist and misogynistic".

She told how she had been "vilified" after reporting an incident involving a male colleague.

In an environment dominated by male officers, any objections were often cast aside and the behaviour dismissed as "banter", the former senior officer said.

Ms Sandhu, who served in the Met for 30 years, said: "A lot of women will not report their colleagues.

"What happens is that male police officers will then close ranks and the fear that most women police officers have got is that when you are calling for help, you press that emergency button or your radio, they're not going to turn up and you're going to get kicked in in the street.

"So you have got to be very careful which battles you can fight and which ones you can actually win."

She added that women officers who are married to male police officers "won't report domestic violence either because of the same sort of issues".

Ms Sandhu also called for change at the top - saying police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick "cannot move with the times".

The body of Sarah Everard was found hidden in woodland

Meanwhile, Zoe Billingham, a senior inspector with Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, told the BBC's Woman's Hour programme: "We cannot dismiss Wayne Couzens as a one-off or an aberration."

Asked if she would feel safe going to a male police at night with a problem, Ms Billingham replied: "At this moment in time, like any other woman, I have concerns and reservations."

Also speaking on Radio 4, Labour MP Harriet Harman, chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, called for "a cultural change in the police service".

Ms Harman said she had written to Home Secretary Priti Patel setting out 10 points that she believed need to be acted on immediately to regain women's trust in the police.

After Ms Everard's murder, the police watchdog announced it was probing alleged failures by the Met to investigate two indecent exposure incidents linked to Couzens in February.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is also investigating alleged failures by Kent Police to investigate a flashing incident linked to Couzens in 2015.

Ms Billingham told the BBC it was a "watershed moment for policing".

"What Wayne Couzens did to Sarah Everard has struck a hammer-blow to the heart of policing legitimacy in England and Wales, and it needs to be treated as such," she said.

Ms Billingham, who is responsible for inspecting 15 police forces including Kent - where Couzens previously worked - called for more vetting, screening and scrutinising of would-be police officers.

She referred to a 2019 report, led by her, which looked at police who abused their position for sexual purposes and said the report highlighted how - at the time - proper vetting did not take place when officers transferred between forces.

The outgoing inspector said she was not confident that the systems currently in place at police forces are enough to prevent another atrocity.

"There is an epidemic of violence against women and girls, and within policing male violence against women and girls is not prioritised enough, it's not taken seriously enough," she said.

Also speaking on Thursday, Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Tom Winsor said he had heard Couzens was known as "the rapist" by other officers at times during his career.

"Yes, I do know that," he said. "And (he) also had allegedly a reputation in terms of drug abuse, extreme pornography and other offences of this kind."

He said there appeared to be a "culture of colleague protection" within the police service and warned that police officers were failing to raise concerns about colleagues who exhibit "damaging or worrying" characteristics.

Following his sentencing, Dame Cressida called Couzens' actions "a gross betrayal of everything policing stands for".

"This man has brought shame on the Met. Speaking frankly, as an organisation we have been rocked."


A CCTV timeline shows key evidence used to arrest and prosecute Wayne Couzens


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×