A police commissioner has been criticised for suggesting women “need to be streetwise” about the powers that police have to arrest them.
North Yorkshire commissioner Philip Allott was discussing the murder and rape of Sarah Everard by Wayne Couzens, in which the former Metropolitan Police officer falsely arrested her in order to kidnap her.
Mr Allott told BBC Radio York: “So women, first of all, need to be streetwise about when they can be arrested and when they can’t be arrested. She should never have been arrested and submitted to that.
“Perhaps women need to consider in terms of the legal process, to just learn a bit about that legal process”.
His remarks were lambasted by Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who said: “These comments are appalling.
“It’s not up to women to fix this. It’s not us who need to change.
“The problem is male violence, not women’s ‘failure’ to find ever more inventive ways to protect ourselves against it. For change to happen, this needs to be accepted by everyone.”