Sarah Everard: Baroness Louise Casey to lead review into Met Police

Baroness Louise Casey of Blackstock will lead an independent review into the Metropolitan Police's culture and standards following Sarah Everard's murder, the force has announced.

It will examine the force's vetting, recruitment and training procedures.

Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said the move aimed to "make sure that the public have more confidence in us".

The review is expected to take six months.

Dame Cressida said: "[Baroness Casey] is extremely experienced and highly respected and I know will ask the difficult questions needed for this thorough review.

"This will build a stronger Met, ensure lasting improvement in our service to London and public confidence in us."

Met Police officer Wayne Couzens murdered Sarah Everard after falsely arresting her for a breach of Covid-19 guidelines as she walked home from a friend's house in south London on 3 March.

He has been sentenced to a whole-life prison term.

Of her appointment, Baroness Casey said any acts undermining trust placed in police by the public "must be examined and fundamentally changed".

She said: "This will no doubt be a difficult task but we owe it to the victims and families this has affected and the countless decent police officers this has brought into disrepute."

Baroness Casey was formerly the government's chief adviser on homelessness and is a crossbench peer in the House of Lords.

Dame Cressida also announced the Met would be launching a second investigation, examining its practices over the past 10 years.

It would look at cases in which somebody made an allegation of sexual misconduct or domestic abuse, against a police officer or member of staff, who was still employed by the force.

She said: "We'll be going back to look at some of those investigations just to make sure that the processes that should have taken place have, and that we are taking the right management action after the case is closed, for example in vetting."

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan welcomed Baroness Casey's appointment and said public trust in the police "requires urgent rebuilding".

"Baroness Casey's review must look into the wider culture of the Met Police, including issues of misogyny, sexism, racism and homophobia as well as thoroughly examining recruitment, vetting, training, leadership and standards of behaviour among officers and staff," he tweeted.

Baroness Casey has worked on issues relating to social welfare for five prime ministers over the past 23 years.

She was made head of the Rough Sleepers' Unit in 1999 and went on to hold leadership positions including director of the national Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, the Respect Task Force and the Troubled Families programme.

She was also the UK's first victims' commissioner - undertaking an inspection into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham in 2015 - and carried out a review of community cohesion and extremism for then prime minister David Cameron, which was published in 2017.

She left the civil service in 2017 to establish the Institute for Global Homelessness before returning to public service to support the government's Covid-19 rough sleeping response.