'5 Years On From Sarah Everard's Murder, The Rapists Still Hold The Power'

When Sarah Everard was brutally murdered and raped, the UK was devastated. Every woman saw themselves in Sarah; she followed the rules, she trusted the police, she followed the law, and she was punished in the most unimaginable way. 

Rallies, marches, and police investigations into how a police officer nicknamed ‘the rapist’ was a serving officer all ensued seemingly like an avalanche of retrospective justice. Police labelled Sarah’s rape and murder as abhorrent, and said that more needed to be done, and they turned their attention to vetting, to address how they had let a rapist into their ranks. 

The police’s focus on working hard to paper over the cracks that Wayne Couzen highlighted in the police force completely missed what women and girls across the UK needed – and still do need – to see. 

Action against everyday rape and violence.

Sarah Everard experienced every woman’s worst nightmare, and her ordeal was a reminder of just how prevalent and unavoidable violence against women and girls is. Couzen wasn’t the first person in power who used his role and his trust to manipulate and rape women; he is quite simply another one for the list. 

It is ironic that at a time of reflection in the five years following Sarah’s death, we sit surrounded by reams of documents from a powerful man who trafficked and organised the rape of many girls, all by powerful men who continue to live life as they were. They are the ones with the power.

The VAWG strategy that was ushered out quickly ahead of Christmas, perhaps to cause minimal media attention, stated the intention for more police to deal with the ever-increasing incidents of rape and violence against women.

In a world where five in six women and seven in eight men who are raped do not report it, and less than 1% of rapes result in a conviction, more police is a complete cop out. 

What we need is a radical response to a colossal problem. Nearly half a million (490,336) people are raped each year, and yet the government isn’t talking about how to stop rape from happening; instead, they are adding more police on the ground. The reality is that most victims (85%) are raped by someone that they know, someone that they trust, and someone that they fear the repercussions of – and it is getting worse. 

It’s why I started Enough, which is centred on rape prevention and was born from the voice of survivors. We have created a safe place for victims to report rape anonymously and to collect DNA evidence through a self-test kit, which can be used as evidence. Research from our university trial at Bristol found that 70% of students surveyed say they felt Enough had prevented rape on campus. Eight thousand kits were given out to create a threat for rapists, and to give an Option 3 for survivors who would never report to the Police or NHS SARC. This is the type of radical response that we need to see. 

The definition of madness is to keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. And five years on, we have very little to show for the repercussions of Sarah’s murder. we have very little to suggest anything might be different today. 

We need to listen to survivors, we need to act on what they say, and we need to give them the tools they need to feel protected and report. When they have the power, rapists will not. More convictions will only happen if they system changes for survivors, not the other way around.

Survivors and society deserve nothing short of radical to make a serious dent in the VAWG epidemic. If not now, when?