A year after Sarah Everard’s murder, the gulf in trust between women and police remains

Newsflare member Xelafootage and photojournalist Dr Denise Laura Baker were there the night London police officers broke up a 'highly emotional' vigil for murdered 33-year-old Sarah Everard vigil. One year on, has anything changed?

I covered the vigil for Sarah Everard at Clapham Common in south London on March 13, 2021. I arrived at the vigil as the sun began to set, passing by a florist near Clapham Common with a queue out the door and down the road as people bought flowers.

Sarah, 33, had gone missing days earlier. She was raped and killed by serving Met Police officer Wayne Couzens. He was given a lifetime sentence. Sarah's murder sparked a nationwide debate about the safety of women on the streets as well as violence against women.

On the night of the vigil, the mood was sombre as hundreds laid their tributes at the bandstand. There was a minute of silence around 6pm, after which attendees were asked by a speaker to leave. 

However, as night began to fall, the atmosphere changed as some attendees started to chant. Those gathered had been largely silent, but as I filmed a sign reading "your indifference and your silence also kills" in Spanish being hung from the bandstand, I heard the crowd becoming increasingly vocal. Some decided to leave as this was unfolding, but many remained. The police were becoming concerned about what was now taking place, particularly regarding the potential spread of COVID-19.

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I've covered countless demonstrations in London in my time and uploaded them to Newsflare, many of them selling quickly to publishers around the world, and here the police response started to develop into one you'd see at a protest. Given what was known about Sarah's murder - a serving Met Police officer had been charged - many attendees were not happy to have police attempting to break up the vigil. It was clear this was not going to be a calm event anymore, and I moved into the bandstand that gave me a 360-degree perspective of what was going on. Media were allowed to stay there as officers asked attendees to leave. A photojournalist friend of mine, Dr Denise Laura Baker, was there with me and described the moment as "chaotic and intensely emotional."

Although the police tried to communicate with those on the bandstand about why they were intervening - they felt it had become an unlawful gathering - that message wasn't well-received by the attendees up there, and clearly wasn't effectively communicated to the hundreds standing around the bandstand. 

I filmed the scenes as police attempted to make their way through the booing crowd. There were scuffles between police and attendees as officers tried to remove people from the bandstand. In the space of a couple of hours, the event looked nothing like how it started.

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Baker says: "I can't remember at what point the police began to move in but they did so en masse and very quickly, trampling over the flowers and pushing people out of the way. At this point there were just a few photographers left on the bandstand. My colleague said he was leaving and asked if I was ready to leave too. As he stepped over the flowers to exit, with me behind him, I was pushed back aggressively, ending up in the police 'kettle' as they surrounded the bandstand. At this point a lot of them pushed onto the bandstand, aggressively pushing women to the floor, with several police officers holding down each one as they cuffed them. Patsy Stevenson was at my feet and I was unable to move as I was entirely surrounded. It was a scary and highly emotional experience."

Courtesy of Subject Access on Newsflare

Newsflare is the go-to platform for video journalists who seek out newsworthy events as they unfold, capturing important moments like the break up of this vigil on camera. Footage I uploaded to the Newsflare platform on the night was soon bought by MailOnline and Channel 4 News, as well as other international publishers.

One year on, I'm glad I was there to capture this moment on camera. And I hope if the Met Police had their time again, they would act differently on this occasion. I've seen first-hand the difficult job police have to do at events in London many times, you develop expectations of how things will be handled, and the way Sarah's vigil was handled was unexpected and shocking. But change comes from capturing such moments and exposing them to the world. 

Baker says: "I have witnessed heavy handed policing on numerous occasions, but the circumstances of this vigil and the fact it was entirely peaceful, should have made aggressive policing a non-starter, so in that respect it was shocking. Personally it hasn't made a difference to how I cover the news, but my perception of the police in that instance was tarnished." 

Watch xelafootage's videos here

Check out Dr Denise Laura Baker's website

Additional footage referenced in this blog courtesy of Subject Access