Anyone follow the coverage of the Sarah Everard case today and want to vent?

[HangingOver]

I'm home alone today and except for whatsapping my friends have nothing to do with this incandescent rage and hopeless sadness.

Anyone else need to talk?

I'm in tears reading about it. That poor girl. How dare he..... how FUCKING dare he?

Men can strangle women to death and then claim it was a sex act gone wrong and get away with a light sentence.

Men can cause such serious internal injuries to a woman that she dies in a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs and claim it was just rough sex and get away with a light sentence

It seems that the pursuit of an orgasm is a mitigating circumstance for violence against women

I'm sick of men

Excellent post @sleeponeday I agree with all of it.

I think there may be more to come out sadly. There may well be facts not made public in terms of prior complaints or action.

The timeline is pretty terrifying too. I’d imagine the couple who saw the fake arrest responded to the request for info fairly quickly, yet he had days feee didn’t he? To take his kids for a trip to the area. Sick sick sick, those poor kids and his wife. As a pp said. The wiping of the phone minutes before arrest also needs explaining.

Also in terms of the pre meditation and planning- I highly doubt he thought he’d get away with it. In fact he was probably certain he wouldn’t. He left a trail of evidence behind him. The location he intercepted Sarah was on CCTV. Maybe one last hurrah after coming close previously.

The actions of the Met at Sarah’s vigil, added to the ‘lads’ stuff makes me even more angry. The vigil policing was under a lot of scrutiny and therefore orders I assume came from the very top. Add unpunished toxic culture and heads should absolutely roll.

Im angry and devastated for her family

I wonder if because of lockdown he wasn't able to access the quantity of prostitutes he would usually be able to, who he would perhaps usually act out his sick fantasies on, and therefore his urges built up, over the lockdowns, fantasies escalated.

Maybe this was his first murder after a lot of planning and build up with prostitutes in the past, escalating to exposing himself and then kidnapping poor Sarah. Just tragic.

It's the fear that she would have felt as she came to the realisation she was handcuffed in the back of his car as he was driving her further out of central London in to the depths of the night, and there's nothing she could do, that is so horrifying. I don't think I've read a case so disturbing- I am really struggling to put this out of my mind.

sleeponeday So well put.

Sarah's family are incredible. Their statements are heartbreaking.

Thanks for starting this thread OP. Was feeling lonely and angry with it all this morning and as more details emerged from the case. Being in the company of others who feel the same just helps.

About the wiping of the phone... I think his house had been under surveillance before his arrest and perhaps he had become aware of this and panicked and decided to wipe it. I'm sure his google history would have left a lot to be desired so it is frustrating they didn't get anything from the phone.

No mention of laptops/tablets which was surprising. Or not much mention from his wife as to his behaviour with her. I struggle to believe he maintained a perfect family man persona 24/7

@ToadstoolBubbleMaker

Tintin your post is awful and I've reported it. On the day that details of this horrific crime are being reported you are attacking her loved ones simply because they are men. I find that totally out of order.

The patriarchy is endemic in society - that is men and women. Yes, men need to stand up to misogyny, we all do. But to say that some of her loved ones, whose hearts have been broken by this awful crime, are indirectly to blame because they are men, is beyond the pale.

What an awful way to twist the point she was making. I think your comments are “beyond the pale.”

Maybe more to do with communication with fellow officers?

We really must try to ''lookout'' for women we see who may be in danger.

This this this!!

If men don’t do it, the police won’t do it and society wine fo it, is women need to make sure we do it.

@icelolly12

About the wiping of the phone... I think his house had been under surveillance before his arrest and perhaps he had become aware of this and panicked and decided to wipe it. I'm sure his google history would have left a lot to be desired so it is frustrating they didn't get anything from the phone.

No mention of laptops/tablets which was surprising. Or not much mention from his wife as to his behaviour with her. I struggle to believe he maintained a perfect family man persona 24/7

Me too. I don’t doubt for a minute there were no red flags.

Society won’t do it*

@minou123

The police vetting process is not exactly a brilliant process, is it?

I just remembered that recently a police officer was convicted of terrorism, oh and having images of children sex abuse.

I looked it up and here it is

amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/01/ben-hannam-met-police-officer-guilty-belonging-banned-neo-nazi-terror-group?amp_js_v=a6&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#aoh=16329465234878&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2021%2Fapr%2F01%2Fben-hannam-met-police-officer-guilty-belonging-banned-neo-nazi-terror-group

(Sorry the longest link in history)

This adds to my rage at the police denying they have a problem.
At least with the NHS, schools etc, they recognise failings and try to correct processes to stop it from happening again.

But the police always seem to say, nope nothing to see here, just one bad apple, trust us......You Must Trust Us

True but they will never be able to see inside someone's head, read their mind, and see their sick fantasies. Vetting will only ever go so far unfortunately.

In fact nobody knows what goes on inside anybody's head, and I think if we did a lot of women would never leave the house or see their male friends/relatives/colleagues in the same light again.

My daughter was abducted by her father. She is still alive but we have had little contact in 5 years. The coverage is reminding me of her kidnap.

Hearing about how Couzen’s previous behaviour was not taken seriously is a reminder of how my daughter’s father’s actions have been trivialised. I am very fortunate that my daughter is alive. However, this a stark reminder of our society’s failure to tackle male violence.

People are talking a lot about what happened when she was forced into the car and how they might have reacted. None of us really know. From what my daughter says, it is likely that victims of abduction go into survival mode.

I have cried a lot this afternoon. I wish there was a way to bring her back.

It IS a police problem. It also a problem across society, that red flags are there and dismissed and ignored.

@icelolly12

About the wiping of the phone... I think his house had been under surveillance before his arrest and perhaps he had become aware of this and panicked and decided to wipe it. I'm sure his google history would have left a lot to be desired so it is frustrating they didn't get anything from the phone.

No mention of laptops/tablets which was surprising. Or not much mention from his wife as to his behaviour with her. I struggle to believe he maintained a perfect family man persona 24/7

Who cares about his wife? His colleagues knew, that should have been enough. His colleagues in the actual Met police knew about it and did nothing. What difference would his wife have made?

Just seen this - wondering why you would want to continue to employ police officers who send personal messages to women they meet through their job, and don't seem to understand the word no....these are not people who are safe to be responsible for our safety... us...www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk/news/19611948.pc-kenneth-brogans-final-warning-gross-misconduct/

I really don't want to be an arse, and I know it wasn't intended in that manner but the earlier references to him not being able to act out his desires with prostitutes led him to murder Sarah is a small example of how pervasive attitudes towards women are.

We all do it, so I really don't want to point fingers, but it goes to show how deeply seated this is and how we need to push back on even the minor things.

Dr Jess Taylor said in an interview with Laura Richards on the Crime Analyst podcast a few months ago that every push forward for women’s rights is met by a counterwave of misogyny. She’s right, it’s like a bloody tidal wave right now.

The episode mainly focuses on Britney Spears’ conservativeship but they discuss general misogyny and women’s rights too: www.crime-analyst.com/29-special-report-from-the-intelligence-cell-who-framed-britney-spears-with-dr-jessica-taylor/

#HerNameWasSarahEverard

@LukeEvansWife

Its really not a snark - so no, I won't go away.

It is a genuine question. The vigils etc for Sarah were fairly high profile but I want to know what about this specific case has started all of it. I am asking as a woman who sees the world as a dangerous place, but no more so than, say, ten years ago.

If you don't want to answer, that's fine. But no need to be arsey about it.

For me, it's because she was kidnapped from the streets during lockdown and murdered by a police officer. A man whose career was literally to protect the public from people like himself. A police officer who had shown worryingly sexual and criminal behaviour in the days prior to the murder. Behaviour he should have been arrested for. But he was allowed to just go along his fucked up way and continue representing the Met. They felt this officer fit to represent them as an organisation and a woman died for it in the most terrifying circumstances.

That's why

I'd find it very difficult to trust a Met Police officer as they've been in the News lately for other crimes on top of this horrendous one... a friend said today that she'd rather be arrested for absconding than risk trusting them if they stopped her for any reason...

Utterly heinous
Depraved entitled he abused his power as a copper. I hope they investigate has he been the perpetrator in any other crimes. .

Sky news reported a marked police car caught them on camera as he had stopped her. The streets would have been so quiet at that time, did a car on the pavement with its hazards on and doors opened, and a man in partial police attire (belt etc?) with a lone female not attract their attention? I would like to know what it recorded, and what they were doing at the time... appreciate they may have been flying past on an emergency call but all the same they may not have.

Great post @sleeponeday.

I personally have been laughed at by both men and women for stating I don't like and have zero interest in anal sex. When did this become the norm that men prefer this over vaginal penetration? When did it become the norm that men grab the back of your head when you give oral sex and shove your face down so you choke? This is honestly the norm now. I chat to male friends and inevitably at some point the conversations turn sexual, and once it does it's apparent that they have no interest in anything else I have to say. Women are sex dolls nothing more.

Porn has a lot to answer for, but can we solely blame porn? No matter how much porn I watch, it wouldn't want to make me want to hurt, abuse or kidnap and rape and MURDER another human being.

Agree with all of that @sleeponeday.

Men who commit VAWG need the fucking book thrown at them. All that happens these days is cautions and slapped wrists, women not believed. These men feel empowered to do this shit because they know there will be little to no punishment so do it they do, and a ramp it up until it's murder.

First sign of it should be stamped down on hard. Wayne Couzens should have never have had his police ID on him. He should have been instantly dismissed, charged and monitored after that indecent exposure episode.

Misogyny plus porn equals a very dark period in time for women and girls.

DD is nearly 4 and I will absolutely dread the day she heads out into the big wide world unless something changes and all I'm hearing so far from those in charge are words. The time for words is over, we need action.