THE death of Sarah Everard has triggered a public outcry about the safety of women and how offences against them are dealt with. An analysis of figures from North Wales Police reveals the risks that women face, with murder, rape and abuse contributing to what campaigners describe as a deadly global pandemic of violence against women. The most recent official statistics at police force level show that 12 women and girls were killed in the region between April 2016 and March 2019. According to a report from the Femicide Census, a research and campaigning organisation, 18 of those killed in North Wales in the decade to 2018 were females aged over 14.
Sarah Everard: Metropolitan Police officer charged with the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard, who went missing in London cnn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cnn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Woman walking alone in Norwich
- Credit: DENISE BRADLEY/Archant2021
The disappearance and discovery of 33-year-old Sarah Everard has shocked the nation and although the full circumstances are not yet known it has led to a wider debate about women s safety. But, as Sarah Burgess found out, it isn t just a London problem, women here in Norfolk and Waveney regularly feel their safety threatened too.
Natasha Harpley, a 41-year-old who has lived in the county for most of her life, is as qualified as any to talk about how women in the area feel on the subject of personal safety.
The disappearance of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, while walking home in London one evening has sparked an outpouring on social media from women sharing their own experiences of sexual assault and harassment. Many have also exchanged notes on the habitual precautions they take to try to stay safe when they walk alone and voiced their anger and frustration that this feels necessary. The fact that a serving Metropolitan Police officer has been arrested on suspicion of Everard s kidnap and murder has only added to the sense of threat. The officer sustained a head injury and was hospitalized while in custody on Wednesday police told CNN. The suspect has since been discharged from hospital and returned to police custody.