The family of Sarah Everard have said they live with “sadness” one year on from her murder by a Metropolitan Police officer.
In a statement released this morning, Sarah’s family said: “It is a year since Sarah died and we remember her today, as every day, with all our love. Our lives have changed forever and we live with the sadness of our loss. Sarah was wonderful and we miss her all the time.”
“Over the past year we have been overwhelmed with the kindness shown to us, not just by family and friends, but by the wider public. We are immensely grateful to everyone for their support, it has meant such a lot to us and has comforted us through this terrible time.”
The 33-year-old was kidnapped in South London on 3 March 2021 by Wayne Couzens, a serving police officer, who raped and killed her near Dover.
Couzens was sentence to life imprisonment on 30 September 2021.
Sarah’s family highlighted the dangers still facing women and girls across the country.
“Sadly, Sarah is not the only woman to have lost her life recently in violent circumstances and we would like to extend our deepest sympathy to other families who are also grieving,” they said.
Southwark Council also issued a statement this morning, saying how Sarah’s shocking murder must inspire change in our community.
“Sarah Everard’s death shocked the country and her legacy has to be active change to make women safer – more women have continued to suffer and be killed by men this year and this must end,” said Cllr Evelyn Akoto, cabinet member for health and wellbeing.
“It starts with men, and we’re focusing on how to prevent male violence and abuse before it starts.”
Cllr Akoto went on to say that, although “Southwark is a safe palce to live, work and enjoy”, the council “won’t rest until women have the same freedom from fear of abuse and harassment as men.”
She continued: “We are working to create and expand the number of safe spaces where people can seek immediate refuge to call for help if they need to, and continuing training and workshops with businesses so staff can identify risk and help prevent harm to women.”
“Alongside this, we have an extensive network of CCTV coverage, which is used to support police work and we are currently carrying out an environmental audit to look at everything which could make women afraid of attack, from street lighting and overhanging trees to places where exits are concealed.”
117 women were murdered in England and Wales between April 2020 to March 2021, according to latest figures by the Office for National Statistics. The same amount as the year before.
60 per cent of the women killed knew their suspected killer.