Every woman can relate to fear on the streets, says Priti Patel

Every woman can relate to the outpouring of stories about harassment and violence shared after Sarah Everard’s disappearance, the home secretary has said.

Priti Patel said the “powerful” accounts reinforced her view that all women “should feel safe to walk on our streets”.

She joined politicians from all parties in expressing sadness at the latest developments in the search for Everard, 33, after police found human remains, and a serving officer, PC Wayne Couzens, 48, of Deal, Kent, was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and murder.

The prime minister, Boris Johnson, said he was “shocked and deeply saddened” by the news and sent his thoughts to the family and friends of the missing woman. “We must work fast to find all the answers to this horrifying crime,” he said.

Patel echoed the message and also picked up on the personal testimony shared by women online, who impressed on others how it was the norm for women to face fear on the streets.

The home secretary said: “These are so powerful because each and every woman can relate. Every woman should feel safe to walk on our streets without fear of harassment or violence.” She added: “At this deeply sad and tragic time, as we think and pray for Sarah and her family, I will continue through my role to do all I can to protect women and girls from violence and harassment.”

Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, began a speech at the party’s local elections launch by offering his sympathies to Everard’s family, whom he said would be experiencing “unspeakable grief”.

“This is awful news. And it has shaken all of us,” he said. “I’d like to say these incidents are rare, but the truth is that violence against women and girls is far too common. No woman should walk home with fear or threat. And we have to be clear: it’s only by recognising the scale of the violence, intimidation and misogyny that women and girls suffer on a daily basis, that we can ever start to confront this.”

Other politicians have spoken about their personal experiences of harassment. The peer Martha Lane Fox said that when she was 19, she was “attacked in the street, pushed to the ground and kicked repeatedly”, adding: “I don’t know of a woman who hasn’t felt frightened at some point in their life.”

The former Labour MP Anna Turley also revealed “we were all given a rape alarm in the first year of secondary school”.

The Labour MP Alex Davies-Jones said girls were told not to wear clothing that was too short or get too drunk. She asked: “When will we start telling boys & men not to attack women?”

Mandu Reid, the leader of the Women’s Equality party, has said the Metropolitan police should not oversee the case, given the arrest of a serving officer on suspicion of murder.

The Met has referred the case to the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which said: “Following assessment we determined that both conduct referrals relating to the kidnap/murder and indecent exposure should remain under local investigation by the force.”