We comment following the publication of Terms of Reference for the public inquiry looking into the circumstances surrounding the murder of Sarah Everard.
The Home Secretary has today published the terms of reference for the public inquiry following the conduct of Wayne Couzens. They confirm it will remain non-statutory and will not look at any wider issues outside of this particular matter, despite the concerns of many front-line organisations working for victims of police perpetrated violence and abuse that this will miss patterns of behaviour and leave other women at risk from other officers.
Of further concern is that the Inquiry as proposed is simply not capable of meeting the aims originally set out by the Home Secretary.
Debaleena Dasgupta, solicitor, at CWJ stated,
“We firmly believe that the Inquiry must involve a strand dedicated to what happened to Sarah Everard. But to proceed on a non-statutory footing is to do a disservice to Ms Everard and her family. A statutory Inquiry would entitle her family to free, independent and specialist legal advice to ensure their voices are heard. It would also allow them to be certain that the Metropolitan Police is not withholding anything - a statutory inquiry can compel witness and the provision of evidence, as well as making sure that any whistle-blowers are protected. That is likely the only way for the family to fully establish what happened.
“The Home Office continues to suggest that a statutory inquiry will take longer. This is simply untrue. There are numerous examples of inquiries where delay was caused precisely because it did not have statutory powers, e.g. the Daniel Morgan Inquiry, the Barnard Lodge Inquiry; Inquires into the deaths of Billy Wright and Robert Hamill; Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust Inquiry; and the Infected Blood Inquiry.
“To prevent something like this happening again, which is the stated aim of the Home Secretary, this incident cannot be viewed in a vacuum. The abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard was an extreme and horrific event, but sadly Couzens is not the only officer whose behaviour is a danger to women and where the conduct escalated. As an organisation which examines police perpetrated abuse of women, we are aware of many cases of police officers abusing women and failures to take action to prevent such abuse and remove perpetrators from the police.
If the Home Secretary really wants to restore public confidence in policing, then the inquiry must also contain strands looking into others' predatory behaviour. The real question is why she isn’t using the powers under the Inquiries Act, given to her by parliament, to ensure this is done."
Following detailed representations and correspondence from CWJ acting with the support of over 20 national organisations specialising in violence against women and girls, judicial review proceedings were issued protectively at the end of last year. Those proceedings challenge the failure of the Home Secretary to place the Inquiry on a statutory footing and the very narrow scope of the inquiry.
For more details see here