Sarah Everard’s family welcomed the report today (Thursday) which said her killer should never have been allowed to join the police.
Wayne Couzens should not have been given a job as a police officer and chances to stop the sexual predator were repeatedly ignored and missed, the Angiolini inquiry found.
Miss Everard was lured into Couzens car near her London home in March 2021. The off-duty armed Metropolitan Police officer then abducted, raped and killed the 33-year-old marketing executive.
Brought up in York, Ms Everard went to Fulford School then studied geography at Durham University before moving to London – where her brother James and sister Katie also live – around 12 years before her death.
Her parents still live in York.
Together with her siblings Sue, Jeremy, Katie and James, the family said in a statement today: “As a family, the inquiry has helped us, not just because of its significant findings, but because its implementation made us feel that Sarah’s life was valued and her memory honoured.
“Her death has not been dismissed as a tragic event to be acknowledged with sympathy and then forgotten – questions have been raised and actions taken to investigate how this tragedy happened.
“As a family, we have not had to fight for answers and, for this, we are very thankful.
“It is obvious that Wayne Couzens should never have been a police officer. Whilst holding a position of trust, in reality he was a serial sex offender.
“Warning signs were overlooked throughout his career and opportunities to confront him were missed.
“We believe that Sarah died because he was a police officer, she would never have got into a stranger’s car.”
Their statement continued: “It is almost three years now since Sarah died. We no longer wait for her call; we no longer expect to see her.
“We know she won’t be there at family gatherings. But the desperate longing to have her with us remains and the loss of Sarah pervades every part of our lives.”
Read more details about today’s report here.