‘Nowhere to hide’ Findings must change the force, say campaigners

Women’s rights campaigners have warned the damning Casey report into the culture at the Met has left the force with “nowhere to hide”.

Louise Casey’s 300-page report found institutional misogyny, racism and homophobia persists within Britain’s biggest police force.

The report was commissioned by the Met in the wake of the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by the serving police officer Wayne Couzens.

Andrea Simon, the director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: “This damning report leaves the Met nowhere to hide when it comes to the depth of its problems with institutional misogyny, racism and homophobia … We demand that today’s report finally initiates a tangible shift in the operation of policing in the UK. If not now, then when, and at what cost?”

Jamie Klingler, the co-founder of Reclaim These Streets, a social justice organisation which successfully brought a legal challenge against the force over its handling of a planned vigil for Everard, said: “The report speaks volumes and the volume is too loud for the Met to hide from.”

The family of Jack Taylor, one of serial killer Stephen Port’s victims, called for a public inquiry into the Metropolitan police.

Taylor’s sisters Donna and Jenny Taylor said an inquiry was needed to understand “how and why this force is failing people so badly”.

In December 2021, inquest jurors found that “fundamental failures” by the police left Port free to carry out a series of murders, as well as drug and sexually assault more than a dozen other men in Barking, east London.

“Someone needs to take responsibility for tackling issues such as homophobia, someone needs to own it,” the Taylors said.

The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, said: “The evidence is damning. Baroness Casey has found institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia, which I accept. She has described the Met as defensive, resistant to change and unwilling to engage with communities.”

The Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, said: “The racist, sexist and homophobic abuses of power that have run rife in the Metropolitan police have shattered the trust that Britain’s policing relies on and let victims down. For 13 years there has been a void of leadership from the Home Office, which has seen Britain’s policing fall far below the standards the public have the right to expect.

“The scale of change required is vast. But the lessons I witnessed from policing reform in Northern Ireland show that it can be done.”