Sarah Everard

[Lily]

I didn't hear about the 'complex case' thing, just that she had gone missing. That makes more sense, sadly, although I would've thought they had arrested him earlier if they suspected him from the start.

[cluefree]

I can’t even get into anyone who would blame her for being out late. Rape culture at its finest.

[Kleio]

9:45 isn’t late and even if it was we have the right to walk the streets too. But I know we all know that here.

It’s utterly heartbreaking and from the moment I heard she’d vanished it didn’t feel like there would be a good outcome.

If there was lots of reports Of women being harassed in the area it might not be an ex partner.

[Luce]

God, this is awful. I hope they find her really quickly.

[Disco]

I didn't know they'd arrested someone either! I'll have to read some news. Poor woman. It doesn't sound good for her or her family.

I used to walk those streets home myself. I was actually silently followed by a police car one night until I was almost home (I had walked from Clapham Common to Streatham Hill). Just as I was turning into my road, a - the - police car pulled up and the two officers asked me if I was ok I said yes, that my house is just *there* and they remarked that they'd followed me the whole way home. I mean, they were looking out for a young woman walking alone in the late evening but all I could think was "Why the bloody hell didn't you offer me a lift two miles ago?!".

ETA Just reading about the arrest so the police officer and the female are Kent based as is her boyfriend's family. That's a bit weird? So maybe she and her boyfriend do know the arrested individuals.

[Pippedydeadeye]

Dic! I think I’d have had the same reaction as you.

It’s a really strange story. I’ve tried to find out a bit more but my new sources aren’t speculative enough. I hope she’s not dead, but it seems the only answer now.

[Marth]

Maybe the police officer is her boyfriend.

[Marth]

What an awful thing.
Can men just fucking stop murdering women and each other. (ETA I'm assuming that this is the case)

Its made me recall one time when my friend and I were driving to Whitstable, babies in the car seats in the back, heading down and a man drove alongside us in a car and held up a sign to pull over.

My friend pulled over and got out. Apparently he was an off duty police officer and gave her a bollocking for speeding. I lent forward to get something in the car and took my seatbelt off to do so (when we were stopped) and he gave her a bollocking for me not wearing a seatbelt. Told her he could give her a ticket etc.

Afterwards it occurred that he could have been anyone!, and now I hope we would not have just automatically obeyed and just kept driving. It makes me go cold thinking about him. That was so dodgy thinking about it , and why would he have a sign like that in his car anyway? (off duty copper or not)

[rosy]

Not according to that bastion of accurate journalism, The Sun. They have named the boyfriend and the arrested man, and they are different. The arrested man is a 48 year old armed diplomatic protection officer with the Met: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14294370/ ... couzens-2/

[Disco]

Maybe the police officer is her boyfriend.

I thought that but thought the article might have implied that her boyfriend was a police officer but I didn't notice that it did say he was police officer.

That is really weird, Marth!! What a creepy weirdo.

I thank my lucky stars very often that I avoided becoming a murder victim.

[rosy]

It’s not her boyfriend, see the Sun link in my post above.

Disco, knowing how close you came - that must be very difficult to process.

[Leap]

I also used to walk alone home loads, I was serially guilty of ducking out of nights out without telling anyone and more than once got into unmarked taxis just to get myself home. It’s horrible to think about how many times I was just lucky, not safe.

Saying that, the thing that haunts me far more is driving home around 10 pm one freezing night from the city centre and catching a glimpse of what was clearly an incredibly drunk woman, very young and skimpily dressed with no jacket or bag stumbling along the street by herself. It was just a matter of seconds because the traffic was moving and there was nowhere to legally stop there or even nearby, and there was a chance she was just smoking outside the pub she was sort of near to, so I let it go. All the way home though, and still now I wish I had been thinking quick enough to stop, put hazards on and just ask her the question. If I could spot how vulnerable she was in a snapshot like that, absolutely anyone could.

Not that this has anything to do with this case. I hadn’t heard about it until this thread and it’s just unthinkable.

[Red]

I also used to walk alone home loads, I was serially guilty of ducking out of nights out without telling anyone and more than once got into unmarked taxis just to get myself home. It’s horrible to think about how many times I was just lucky, not safe.

I did lots of this too, Leap. I used to live in the centre of Manchester and it felt to me to be incredibly safe, even late at night because home was literally minutes away.
I once left a club and told my mate I would be in the next taxi behind her, but at the last minute I decided to walk.
Anyway, I realised I was being followed and changed my route to get onto the main roads with lots of people around and had a heart-thumping walk home, regretting every second. On reflection, the most dangerous bit of the walk was the street I lived on as my flat was a good couple of minutes walk off down a pretty quiet road with few people about.

[smalex]

A good friend of mine used to walk anywhere in Cardiff, any time of the day or not. I wouldn't have done it but I admired her for it. A guy attacked her on a busy main road road at 2am. Thankfully a couple and a taxi driver saw it and apprehended him. He got a prison sentence. I think she's still pretty brave considering, but obviously it changed her. I know she's felt a lot of anger that he 'took' that feeling of liberty from her.

[Lily]

I thank my lucky stars very often that I avoided becoming a murder victim.

I think about this far more often than I should do, and I promise I'm not a stalker.

So the guy's been arrested on suspicion of murder. I really did hope for a better outcome, although I knew it was unlikely.

[Zoomer]

Oh no! Poor girl.

[Disco]

God, it's awful; kidnap, murder and exposing himself. Wtf.

[Rosa]

It's horrific.

[Marth]

Fucking men (not all fucking men obviously)

[Tabitha]

Ugh, that is so upsetting.