Image source, House of Commons

Returning to the Commons, where Home Secretary James Cleverly has just delivered a statement on the report, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper is now responding.

She says though she agrees with most of what Cleverly has said in the last few minutes, his response to the Angiolini report is "too weak, it is too little and it is too late, and the lack of urgency is unfathomable to me".

She says the government was repeatedly warned about vetting failures and misconduct over the last decade or so.

All the government has done is bring in a code of practice two and a half years after Sarah’s murder, "which isn’t strong enough", she says.

Cooper says most of the misconduct changes Cleverly referred to in his response moments ago are not in place yet.

She asks him to commit to a mandatory framework for vetting, backed by legislation, and commits the Labour Party to support such an initiative.

At minimum, she asks him to accept Angiolini's sixth recommendation, to review indecent exposure and other sexual offence allegations against serving police officers.

Away from the exchanges in the Commons, Kent Police has apologised for improperly investigating a report in 2015 accusing Couzens of indecently exposing himself.

Kent Police said it was "shocked, appalled and disgusted" by Couzens' crimes and that while it was still considering the contents of the Angiolini Inquiry report it fully accepted the recommendations made of the force.

"We also accept our investigation into a 2015 incident of indecent exposure was flawed due to it being allocated to an officer who was not a trained investigator, and apologise for this failing."

James Cleverly finishes his statement to the Commons by expressing his "heartfelt sympathy" to Sarah Everard's family and friends.

"Together, we must do everything possible to stop such agony being visited on others, to rebuild public trust and to make sure that our streets and public places, as well as the private realm, are safe for women and girls," he says.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper will now respond to Cleverly's statement.

Cleverly continues that most police officers use their powers to serve the public bravely and well.

"But, when they fall short, the impact can be devastating," he says.

He says society cannot function properly where trust in police is eroded.

"I am unambiguous that police forces must keep improving and must command the confidence of the people they serve," he says.

He calls on police leadership, in every rank, to play their part to regain public confidence.

Cleverly says there will now be a presumption for the dismissal of any officer found to have committed "gross misconduct".

He says there will now be an automatic suspension of police officers charged with certain criminal offences.

Returning to James Cleverly's statement, he says the Home Office is "taking action to address public confidence in the police", for which there has already been progress.

"Anyone not fit to wear uniform for whatever reason must be removed from policing and every effort to make sure similar people never join", he says.

He says the department is providing funding for the NPCC for flagging intelligence about officers far more quickly.

"We are changing rules to make it easier for forces to remove those who cannot hold the minimal level of clearance," he says.

Turning away from Home Secretary James Cleverly's statement to the Commoms for a moment, we've just received a response to the report from the chair of body that represents police leaders.

National Police Chiefs’ Council Chair Chief Constable Gavin Stephens says the findings left him "aghast".

“Across history there are crimes that send a signal to us all, a signal not just about the depravity of the perpetrator, but one of problems in our society or failures in our institutions," he says.

"This is a glowing red signal to all police leaders that we must do everything humanly possible to enact these recommendations and change policing for future generations.”

Stephens says progress is being made in identifying wrongdoers in the police force, reforming vetting processes and resetting ethics and values within the institution.

"This report makes clear that we have much more to do to.”

He says the report is a deeply distressing but incredibly important piece of work.

Cleverly says we all owe thanks to the brave testimony of those who spoke to the inquiry.

"Everyone who Couzens hurt is in my thoughts today."

Image source, House of Commons

Home Secretary James Cleverly is now delivering a statement following the inquiry report today.

We'll bring you more when we have it.

Today's report is on part one of the Angiolini Inquiry, but part two is already under way and will examine police culture in greater depth.

“Good police officers work alongside those who abuse their powers, behave inappropriately with their colleagues and do a disservice to the profession of policing,” Angiolini adds.

Part three will investigate the crimes and career of another former Metropolitan Police officer, David Carrick. He was jailed last year for multiple rapes, dating back nearly two decades.

The Home Office has also now responded to part one of the the Angiolini Inquiry, saying it has made "huge strides" in "rooting out officers not fit to wear the badge".

As a reminder, inquiry chair Lady Elish Angiolini said "without a significant overhaul, there is nothing to stop another Couzens operating in plain sight".

The Home Office said more changes to the police disciplinary system were being set out.

That includes integrity screening of all serving officers and a programme to transform the way police and the Crown Prosecution Service investigate rape, and the classification of violence against women and girls as a national threat.

The Home Office added that the government is bringing forward legislation that will make it easier to sack officers who fail to hold basic vetting when re-checked, as well as anyone found guilty of gross misconduct.

Lady Elish Angiolini says in 2018, when Couzens joined the Metropolitan Police, a search of the Police National Database - an intelligence database - found "no trace".

In fact there were entries about an incident in 2013 when he was reported missing from home, and an allegation of indecent exposure from 2015.

These were also missed when he applied to be a firearms officer the following year.

"Now is the time for change," Angiolini says.

Without significant overhaul, she says there is nothing to stop another Wayne Couzens from operating in plain sight.

She has issued 16 recommendations for change as part of this report, and there are two more parts to come.

Angiolini issues a plea to those in positions of authority and every police officer in the country to read the report "and take immediate action".

"Sarah Everard's parents and loved ones live in the perpetual grief and pain of having lost Sarah in this way," she says.

Her death, and the public discourse it caused, should galvanise those responsible for policing to ensure those with the power to protect us can be trusted, she concludes.

• If you'd like to take a look at the report yourself, which contains upsetting details, you can find that here, external

Angiolini says Couzens was not wholly a product of his working environments, but "those environments did nothing to discourage his misogynistic view of women".

She adds that police leaders need to radically transform their approach to police culture, if future offenders are to be denied opportunities to abuse police powers for sexual purpose.

Wayne Couzens has been convicted of three reported crimes of indecent exposure but the inquiry is aware of five other alleged incidents of sexual offending by Couzens “which for many understandable reasons were never reported to police,” says Angiolini.

“Given the known under-reporting of sexual offences, I believe there may be even more victims of Couzens’ offending,” she says.

Another allegation was of masturbatory indecent exposure directed at a lone cyclist on a country lane in 2020, Angiolini says.

She says the case was closed, but if it had been more thorough he may have been caught.

The report dropped at 10:30 and now the reaction is coming in thick and fast from police and politicians.

Responding to the inquiry, Home Secretary James Cleverly said the actions of Wayne Couzens were "not a reflection on the majority of dedicated police officers".

But, Cleverly continued, Sarah Everard was "failed in more ways than one by the people who were meant to keep her safe".

Returning now to Angiolini, who refers to allegations of indecent exposure against Couzens in the years leading up to Sarah Everard's murder.

In 2015, Angiolini says, a member of the public phoned Kent Police to report that a man had been seen driving a car while indecently exposing himself. They gave the police the make, model, colour and registration of the car, and police quickly identified Couzens as the registered owner of the car.

Despite this, Kent Police closed the case and took no further action, she says. They did not speak to Couzens, who was serving in the force at the time, nor conduct a follow-up interview with the witness.

"This was a grave error and a very obvious red flag," Angiolini says.

"By failing to properly investigate the allegations, Kent Police missed a valuable opportunity to disrupt or even prevent Couzens' future offending," she says.

The Met Police has just responded to the inquiry's report.

Here's the force's chief Sir Mark Rowley's statement in full.

“There is nothing we can say to the family of Sarah Everard and all those who loved her that will convey how very sorry we are. Wayne Couzens’ crimes were horrific.

"The fact that he abused his position as a Metropolitan Police officer to carry them out represents the most appalling betrayal of trust. It damages the relationship between the public and the police and exposes long-standing fundamental flaws in the way we decide who is fit to be a police officer and the way we pursue those who corrupt our integrity once they get in.

“The report published today is an urgent call to action for all of us in policing. We must go further and faster, to earn back the trust of all those whose confidence in policing has been shaken by events of recent years.

“Regardless of our significant progress over the past year, the scale of the change that is needed inevitably means it will take time and it is not yet complete.

"The majority of my Met colleagues share my determination to reform by both confronting the risk posed by predatory men in policing, and also, improving our protection of women and children across London.”

Angiolini says police investigations of indecent exposure were poor.

She calls for a step change in the way police respond to indecent exposure cases.

She adds that more research is needed to understand the link "between this offence and the likely trajectory towards serious contact offending".

The inquiry chair stresses that even without this trajectory, victims deserve cases to be properly investigated each and every time.