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 think high-profile crimes build their own momentum - once they get past a tipping point of public awareness then they just build and build, it's not necessarily all about people making judgements on some victims being more 'worthy' than others.
And with Sarah, the fact that she was missing, and there are a lot of women in her demographic in London, one of the world's biggest cities, things hit harder when it is easy to put yourself in someone's shoes. So yes I think age and race did play a factor too, as they do with Claudia Lawrence, with Holly & Jessica and others.

It’s absolutely horrific, that poor woman.

I think the Met have a lot of questions to answer here. Apparently he was known as the rapist by colleagues. Wtf! He told them he didn’t feel comfortable handling firearms in the days leading up to this- surely that should’ve been followed up.

Quite frightening that Cressida Dicks contract was extended before this was made public too

Hope he rots, absolute bastard

I feel sick to my stomach with all of it. Just... how do I trust the police now? And while I was ALWAYS sceptical of increased police powers because of the potential for abuse I feel like I was proved "right" in the worst way possible. I didn't want to be right with my worries. God it's just awful.

I work nights and have to walk alone down streets darker than Sarah was abducted from.

I hate that I don’t feel safe.

I hate that Sarah should have been safe but was raped and murdered by someone who was being paid to protect her.

I hate that there were red flags ignored. He was given permission to do this. His colleagues called him “the rapist” as a fucking joke. Can we talk about institutional misogyny at any point?

[quote Pikamoo]@LukeEvansWife this case hits home for me because it could have been any one of us. I have a loving DH who would never lay a hand on me, I don't have to sell my body to pay the bills. But still I can't walk down the street without being at risk. Just like Sarah. And I'm not saying at all that violence committed by a partner or a creep who pays for sex is any less awful but it feels more remote and less like it will affect me. This case really shines a light on the massive fear that some women feel all the time and the fact that all of us have at least a bit of fear.

Not all men, not even one page in? Really? Fuck all men.[/quote]
Do you include your loving DH in the fuck all men.

My main concern is that many of his colleagues must have known about his so-called “dark side”, as they suspected he had been using steroids in his quest to prove himself as a gym “bunny”.
IMO, steroids coupled with a porn addiction and male “banter” should have marked him out as unstable and been reported by those who worked with him, years ago.
The fact that they stuck together afterwards, even kettling females holding a vigil for Sarah, and causing a similar kind of fear (not on the same level, obviously) among a large number of young women, shows that the Police clearly have no interest in getting rid of their unsavoury culture and reducing misogyny in their ranks.

"We would all still lean on the police if we were in an emergency and needed their help." Yes. I would. But while this is true, how do I trust that an individual officer isn't going to hurt me?

Do you think that the police who were hurting and arresting women at Sarah's vigil under the pretext of "breaking lockdown" were aware they were using the same justification that her murderer had used?

I feel sick to the stomach for what that poor young woman went through. It makes me despair for the world my kids are growing up in.
Such an evil man. Colin Sutton, the senior police officer who caught Levi Bellfield and Delroy Grant, has tweeted to say that his professionalism was never pierced even by those cases but Wayne Couzens has effectively done so, to the point of hatred.

Just awful . What other crimes he could have also potentially committed.

The families statements are heartbreaking.

Not many crimes hit me like this one has.

I am so angry.

@ancientgran I do include DH in that fuck all men. Just because I love him doesn't mean he's not a man. Its like racism, you can't disclaim all responsibility as a white person just because a person of colour loves you or deems you not racist.

@MrsRobbieHart

Men kill women in the uk at a rate of over 2 a week. This wasn’t evil at work, this wasn’t an anomaly or a one off. This is normal life! This is tolerated and permitted in our society. For it to change, all men have to change it. All of them.

Hadn't this number even gone up recently??

Shocking isn't it

From someone who's partner tried to kill her and actively tried over the course of a few days I can say the system is shit
He still walks the streets

If he is found guilty on everything his prison sentence will be very short

Awful

I dread for the time my innocent girls go out to pubs , clubbing

@Partey

It’s absolutely horrific, that poor woman.

I think the Met have a lot of questions to answer here. Apparently he was known as the rapist by colleagues. Wtf! He told them he didn’t feel comfortable handling firearms in the days leading up to this- surely that should’ve been followed up.

Quite frightening that Cressida Dicks contract was extended before this was made public too

Hope he rots, absolute bastard

This is horrible.

@LukeEvansWife

I have a question.

With the amount of male violence, what is it about this case that has upset people so much? Unfortunately, women get raped, beaten, murdered by men all the time. Do you cry over them all or was there something about this that triggered that reaction?

I can only speak for myself but it's not just this case. I lost a friend many years ago at the hands of a man and it sparked this rage and sadness in me , like an earlier post described. I was pretty young and naive before that. Every woman lost, every child without a mother and every family affected...it all makes me so angry and worried and sad.

Reading the victim impact statements has broken me. The bravery of her family telling that piece of shit to look at them when they speak to him. I'm so angry. So angry.

I'm just reading some of the details.

Heartbreaking and very difficult to read.

'Any of us who have been alone in a cab and had the driver taken an unexpected route and suddenly had that lightening bolt feeling of how fucking vulnerable you actually are being in a car alone with a strange man have probably been imagining this too. It's bone chilling.'

This is one of the saddest, but most relatable things I've ever read. I understand completely the moment where the cab driver turns off the sat nav route, I know the fear that's immediate and overpowering.

Always having to text my husband the car reg and license details before getting in a cab, never getting too drunk when out with women only, not forgetting my whistle and remaining constantly vigilant.

The terror of realising how fucking vulnerable we are if a man decides to rape us, hurt us or kill us.

RIP Sarah - I'm so sorry

For all the posters saying they hate all men I assume you don't have a male partner, son, nephews. Do you hate your dad, granddad etc.

There is no doubt this man was absolute evil, and anyone who colluded with him in the police have a lot to answer for too

I’ve just read the victim impact from Sarah’s mum and it has broken me.
I’m sat here with my baby girl and I just feel sick, sad and helpless. I so want to do something. But I don’t know what, it all just feels futile.

Anything short of a whole of life sentence will be devastating for women.

I will March even if I’m alone.

Have been reading the Guardian updates with disbelief.

For me it's been a cumulative effect. I live near where Levi Bellfield hit women in the head to knock them out and still dread driving down those roads. That's been exacerbated by what Sabina Nessa went through (she was also hit on the head with a heavy object). I am now continually looking around me.

I have no idea what my rights are with regards to male police. If they try and speak to me in a dark street or in a quiet place, do I have the right to run? Or will I be charged for resisting arrest?

If the police, as an institution, gave a shit about women's safety he wouldn't have had a warrant card to arrest her with - it would have been taken while they investigated his previous offences.
And this doesn't really "read" as a first offence, does it? God knows what else he did that he didn't get caught for, or a blind eye was turned to, or a woman was intimidated into not reporting. I bet there is more to come out, if it isn't covered up

Can we just not go there with the NAMALT bollocks, just this once?

I just feel sick. She had 80 miles of being absolutely terrified. 80 fucking miles.