Women and Equalities Minister Liz Truss says she finds walking home at night 'concerning'

Liz Truss said that females can be “fearful” when they go out, and called for change in society to ensure that women feel safer in the wake of the murder of York woman Sarah Everard.

Ms Everard was falsely arrested by serving police officer Wayne Couzens as she walked home in South London in March this year, before he raped and murdered her.

Ms Truss, who is also the Foreign Secretary, was speaking after Metropolitan Police firearms officer Wayne Couzens 48, was handed a whole life sentence at the Old Bailey on Thursday for murdering Sarah Everard.

She was asked whether she thought the criminal justice system was “institutionally misogynistic”, but told a fringe event at Conservative Party conference in Manchester that ““I wouldn’t use those words.”

However, Ms Truss went on to say: “But what I would say is, as a woman, I do find walking home at night concerning.

“I don’t like that air of concern. I do think, as women generally, we are more fearful of going out and that is fundamentally wrong.

“It’s something we have to change about our society.”

The MP for South West Norfolk said that she thought the treatment of women had improved since she began her career in the mid-90s, and added: “But it is definitely the case that women are more fearful of going out at night, of going to isolated areas and that inevitably holds people back from enjoying life to the full.

“We need to address that.”