A police boss has apologised in response to a huge backlash caused by his suggestion that women “need to be streetwise” and that Sarah Everard “never should have submitted” to the fake arrest that led to her murder.
Details emerged during murderer Wayne Couzens’Sentence reveals that Everard was lured into his care by being falsely arrested for violating coronavirus guidelines.
After urging women to learn more about the North Yorkshire case, Philip Allott, North Yorkshire commissioner, later stirred anger. “legal process”.
Speaking on BBC Radio York, Allott said women should be aware breaching Covid rules was not an indictable offence – which is one considered serious enough to warrant a prison sentence or crown court hearing.
“So women, first of all, need to be streetwise about when they can be arrested and when they can’t be arrested. She should never have been arrested and submitted to that,”He said.
“Perhaps women need to consider in terms of the legal process, to just learn a bit about that legal process”.
It follows an outpouring of disbelief that has followed the Met Police’s attempts to reassure women in the wake of the crime. Today, they recommended that women just “run away”If they feel unsafe around a male police officer, they may take the bus. Couzens’ previous allegations, as well as separate incidents of indecent expose, are being criticized by the police force. The police have launched a new investigation to investigate this.
They made a statement to inform the public about safety measures. However, they also stated that people should verify the identity of anyone claiming to be a policeman. This led many to believe they were putting responsibility on victims and not criminals to ensure their safety.
Responding to the police chief’s comments, people were similarly outraged and many, including Labour MP Barbara Keeley, called for his resignation:
And Nicola Sturgeon called them comments “appalling”.
Lucy Arnold, from campaign group Reclaim the Streets, who organised a vigil outside York Minster following Everard’s death, called his comments “horrifically offensive”.
“I think frankly that was a horrifically offensive thing to say,”She said.
“Does anyone really feel like they can stand up to a police officer?
“I am very confident I know my rights, I know the law, but no I wouldn’t feel confident at all.”
BBC reportsLater, Allott tweeted that he didn’t intend to blame anyone. However, the link they provided doesn’t work anymore, suggesting that the tweet has been deleted.
“Nobody is blaming the victim what I am saying is that we need to inform women far better of their rights, something I intend to action here in North Yorkshire ASAP,”According to reports, he wrote.
Later, he apologized on Twitter and stated that he wanted to. “retract”The comments were realized to be incorrect. “insensitive”.
Some said he should resign even though he retracted. “too little, too late”.
In his earlier interview, Allott was also critical of the Met Police’s alleged failure to investigate two indecent exposure incidents linked to Couzens in February, describing it as a red flag for any force.
“A murderer typically commits seven crimes before going on to murder, that man we know committed at least two crimes,”He said.
“The police knew, so what should have happened is that it should have been picked up straight away.”
Indy100 He has reached out to the North Yorkshire Police Fire and Crime commissioner for comment.