OPINION - The Standard View: The appalling, chilling truth about the Metropolitan Police

Angiolini Inquiry

By now, both the police and public may have grown accustomed to excoriating reports into the Met’s performance, culture and standards of behaviour. Yet the force’s failings still possess the power to shock.

Following the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Met officer — as well as other deeply disturbing incidents — Baroness Casey carried out an independent review which laid bare a series of failings and painted a picture of the country’s largest force as institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.

Today, Scotland Yard faces another terrible moment. An independent report by Lady Elish Angiolini has found that Wayne Couzens was able to murder Ms Everard because both the Met and Kent Police ignored a string of “red flags” about his predatory sexual offending that ought to have disbarred him from being an officer in the first place. Chillingly, Lady Elish warns that without “a significant overhaul, there is nothing to stop another Couzens operating in plain sight”.

These findings reveal a succession of further alleged crimes by Couzens, including a knifepoint kidnapping in north London in 2015, two rapes in the capital, as well as an “alleged sexual assault against a child” before he joined Kent Police in 2006.

The appalling, intolerable reality is that three years on from Ms Everard’s murder, women in the capital do not feel safer. Many grasp on to rape alarms or won’t go to bed after nights out until their friends message that they’re home. And the question still lingers: if a male police officer walks up to a lone woman and asks her to come with him for questioning, should she?

Oxford Street’s future

Oxford Street’s glow-up continues apace. Following years of being plastered by “American candy” stores, big name brands including Ikea and HMV are coming back, alongside a transition to more immersive experiences, such as Frameless and the Moco Museum.

Returning Oxford Street to its former glory doesn’t mean a rehash of what worked in the past. It is about imagining an exciting, innovative future, making the West End once again a destination for Londoners and tourists alike.

Art on our doorstep

The stunning collection at the National Gallery belongs to the nation and is free of charge. Even better, the public is visiting in their droves.

There were more than three million visits to the National Gallery in 2023, a rise of 14 per cent on the previous year.

London is no one’s idea of a cheap date. But some of the greatest art in the world is on our doorstep for the cost of a bus fare. What a treat.

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