Rape Crisis England & Wales (RCEW) welcomes the publication (2.12.2025) of Part Two of Lady Eilish Angiolini’s independent inquiry, which was set up to investigate how an off-duty police officer was able to abduct, rape and murder Sarah Everard. Our comment on the release of Part 1 of the Angiolini Inquiry, published in 2024, can be found here.
First and foremost, our thoughts remain with Sarah Everard, her family and friends, and all victims and survivors of rape and male violence. We will never lose sight of why this Inquiry was established, and why its findings and recommendations are so important to prevent this from happening again.
The second part of the independent inquiry is split into two reports, with the first focusing on the prevention of sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces.
The report found that there was a general lack of data on sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces, meaning that much of the available information relating to these offences was "difficult to obtain, patchy and incomplete." For instance, no single set of data shows how many women have been raped in a public place in England or Wales in the last year.
However, the Inquiry was able to obtain data through its own public survey. This found that:
- 48% women had experienced an incident where they felt unsafe in a public space due to the actions or behaviours of (an)other person(s).
- For women aged 18-24 this went up to 87% – almost 9 in 10 women.
- 76% of women aged 18–24 had felt unsafe in a public space due to the actions or behaviour of a man or men.
- Respondents from Black and minoritised communities were more likely to report having experienced an incident in the last 3 years (58%) than those who were white.
The Inquiry also found that current local and national efforts around prevention are “fragmented, underfunded and overly reliant on short-term solutions.” Although there have been many innovative approaches – as demonstrated by Operation Soteria - a more unified approach is still needed, in addition to the prioritisation of sexual offences cases more generally and a greater focus on building effective profiles of offenders to prevent reoffending. We will continue our work to influence criminal justice institutions to ensure these desperately needed changes.
The Inquiry concludes that a truly whole-society approach is needed to address sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces, and that this cannot rely on policing alone. It must involve government, health, and other agencies all working collaboratively, with defined roles and responsibilities. RCEW have made similar calls for an integrated public health approach to the epidemic of male violence against women and girls. In our report, A Real Safe Space, one of our key recommendations urged NHS England to proactively engage with their responsibilities for commissioning specialist support services for children and young people who have experienced child rape and sexual abuse (CRaSA).
The Inquiry builds on the 16 recommendations made in its initial report to make a further 13 suggestions for change, most of which echo calls already made by RCEW:
- The improvement and prioritisation of sexual offence investigations.
- Improved data collection and accuracy, to establish an informed understanding of these crimes and to assist in building effective preventative measures.
- Full, consistent and sustainable implementation of Operation Soteria across England and Wales.
- A multi-year and whole-system prevention strategy, targeting the behaviour of perpetrators of sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces.
- Targeted and consistent public messaging, led by the Home Office as the lead department for the response to VAWG, with input by specialist services.
As well as more focus on women’s safety in online spaces, we would like to see more research into the effective use (or lack) of civil orders, such as Sexual Risk Orders, and pre-charge bail. In relation to perpetrators of sexually motivated crimes, these sorts of protective measures – when applied effectively, and at the right time - may include restrictions or requirements on men who pose a danger to women in public. However, as many of the ISVAs in our Rape Crisis centres tell us, when these orders are issued, how they are subsequently monitored and enforced when breached, vary from force to force.
There are also ways in which specialist support services for survivors contribute towards prevention – something that is touched upon in the report, but not in detail. ISVAs may help victims to engage with the criminal justice system – a process which can be retraumatising for so many survivors - thereby increasing reporting and convictions, and so protecting the wider public. They may also help to raise the standard of initial police responses to sexual offences through local and national campaigns and partnership-working. For those who choose not to report, their counsellor may help them to recognise and address vulnerabilities (i.e., socio-economic needs, physical and psychological safety) and to recognise patterns of offending in their abusers. We simply cannot do prevention work around male violence against women in public spaces without ensuring the survival of these services.
Finally, the Inquiry looked at progress in relation to earlier recommendations made in Part 1 of the report. It found that:
- More than a quarter (26%) of police forces had yet to implement specialist policies for investigating sexual offences, including ‘non-contact’ offences such as indecent exposure, which we know can "indicate a potential trajectory towards even more serious sexual and violent offending".
- Although guidance and training on indecent exposure have been produced and made available for police from January 2025, the Inquiry estimates that only 45% of officers have so far completed this.
We support Lady Angiolini’s demand for greater urgency around these specific calls for reform – and particularly around the ban on recruitment of new officers with a history of sexual offending. As her report shows, much of the focus around preventing sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces currently remains with policing. To ensure these measures are effective, and to avoid any future misuse of these positions of power, it must then ensure the highest standards and expectations of all its officers.