The mother of Sarah Everard, Susan, has opened up on her personal grief and pain following the release of the latest report from the Angiolini Inquiry. The mother of the 33-year-old, who was kidnapped, raped and killed by Wayne Couzens, released a powerful statement on December 2, which was included in the latest report.
Mrs Everard said: “I read that you shouldn’t let a tragedy define you, but I feel that Sarah’s death is such a big part of me that I’m surprised there is no outer sign of it, no obvious mark of grief. I have been changed by it, but there is nothing to see. Outwardly we live our normal lives, but there is an inner sadness.
“People who do know are unfailingly kind and have helped more than they will ever know. We are not the only ones to lose a child, of course, and we form a sad bond with other bereaved parents. After four years, the shock of Sarah’s death has diminished but we are left with an overwhelming sense of loss and what might have been.
“All the happy, ordinary things of life have been stolen from Sarah and from us – there will be no wedding, no grandchildren, no family celebrations with everyone there. Sarah will always be missing and I will always long for her. I go through a turmoil of emotions – sadness, rage, panic, guilt and numbness. They used to come all in one day but as time goes by they are more widely spaced and, to some extent, time blunts the edges.
“I am not yet at the point where happy memories of Sarah come to the fore. When I think of her, I can’t get past the horror of her last hours. I am still tormented by the thought of what she endured. We find we still appreciate the lovely things of life, but, without Sarah, there is no unbridled joy. And grief is unpredictable – it sits there quietly only to rear up suddenly and pierce our hearts.
“They say that the last stage of grief is acceptance. I am not sure what that means. I am accustomed to Sarah no longer being with us, but I rage against it.”
Ms Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, was abducted, raped and murdered as she walked home by a former armed Metropolitan Police officer in south London in March 2021. Couzens tricked her into thinking he could arrest her for breaking lockdown rules.
In a further statement issued as the second report from the Angiolini Inquiry was published on Tuesday, the Everard family said they are “enormously grateful” to its chairwoman, Lady Elish Angiolini.
They said: “The report is an impressive document and the result of painstaking and meticulous research and analysis.
“It shows how much work there is to do in preventing sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces, but as a family, we find it heartening that many positive measures have been identified.”
They added: “Sarah is always in our thoughts, of course, and we feel the Inquiry continues to honour her memory.
“So, too, does it speak for all women who have been the victim of sexually motivated crimes in a public place and all those at risk.
“We stand with them in recognising the urgent need for positive change and in expectation of a better future.”
The latest report from the Angiolini Inquiry, set up in the wake of the murder of Ms Everard, looked at sexually-motivated crimes against women in public.
Speaking as the report was made public, Lady Elish said too many perpetrators remain free while women live in fear.
“There are still many victims because there are still many perpetrators of sexually-motivated crimes who escape detection and prosecution,” she told journalists. “With a greater spotlight on the safety of women in public, women should feel safer in public spaces, but many do not.
“Women change their travel plans, their routines and their lives out of fears for their safety in public while far too many perpetrators continue to roam freely.”
The new report makes a series of 13 recommendations including improved data collection, a national awareness campaign and prioritising prevention.
Lady Elish said: “Prevention is most effective when it confronts those who cause harm. And yet too many opportunities to apprehend violent perpetrators have not been acted upon.
“Too many women are victimised and too many lives are lost or irrevocably changed forever.”
