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Susan Everard says she ‘rages’ against the killing by Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens
Jane DaltonTuesday 02 December 2025 14:46 GMT
CloseFour years after Sarah Everard's murder, women still feel unsafe on UK streets, the Angiolini inquiry finds
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The heartbroken mother of Sarah Everard, who was murdered by a serving Metropolitan Police officer, has revealed she still is tormented by the horror of her daughter’s last hours and that she suffers “rage, panic and guilt”.
Susan Everard spoke of her “turmoil of emotions” as an inquiry following the killing issued 13 recommendations to protect women from violent attacks.
Inquiry chair Lady Elish Angiolini warned that predators continue to roam freely and women live in fear of attacks in public four years after Ms Everard was murdered by Wayne Couzens.
open image in gallerySarah Everard’s death prompted an inquiry into protecting women in public (Family handout/PA) (PA Media)She said countless other women had been targeted by men since the case in 2021 and slated “critical failures” in recording basic data about attacks and a “scattergun approach” to prevention.
Mrs Everard spoke of her agony when she thinks about what her daughter went through.
She 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.”
She said the shock of her daughter’s death had diminished but the family were 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,” Mrs Everard said.
“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.
She said she was not yet at a point where happy memories of Sarah came to the fore.
“When I think of her, I can't get past the horror of her last hours,” she said. “I am still tormented by the thought of what she endured.
open image in galleryMs Everard's family praised the work of the inquiry (The Angiolini inquiry)“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 by Couzens in south London in March 2021.
He tricked her into thinking he could arrest her for breaking lockdown rules.
As the second report from the Angiolini Inquiry was published on Tuesday, the Everard family said they were “enormously grateful” to 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.”
The inquiry praised Mrs Everard’s eloquent description of the effect of the murder on her.
Last year, the inquiry concluded Couzens should never have been employed by the police.
