Iain Dale: The 'buck stops' with Cressida Dick for Sarah Everard murder

30 September 2021, 22:14 | Updated: 30 September 2021, 22:25

Iain Dale calls on Commissioner Cressida Dick to resign.

By Tim Dodd

Iain Dale called on Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick to resign over the murder of Sarah Everard by their former officer Wayne Couzens.

It comes as Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick is facing mounting calls to resign, after Wayne Couzens - nicknamed 'The Rapist' by colleagues - was sentenced to life in prison for the brutal murder of Sarah Everard.

Iain said: "So many of us have so many questions about how he was enabled to do this. How he was still a serving officer in the Metropolitan police, and used his status to effectively rape and murder Sarah Everard.

"Given he was known in the Metropolitan police by a nickname of 'the rapist', given he was guilty of two indecent exposure offences, given that many female police officers felt uncomfortable to be in the same room as him, you wonder how he managed to retain a job in the Metropolitan police."

'Who is next? What will be her name?'

Iain continued: "There's been a lot of people today calling for the resignation of Dame Cressida Dick, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, I am one of them.

"The buck has to stop somewhere and I'm afraid it stops with the commissioner of the Metropolitan police.

"There is clearly a culture at the top of the Metropolitan police that is incapable of making the kind of reforms that are needed. Not just in this area but in many others too."