By Lucy Caulkett-
A Yorkshire police boss who caused outrage after making ‘unforgivable’ comments about the murder of Sarah Everard has resigned, hours after saying he would remain in his post.
In the wake of former Met police officer Wayne Couzens being sentenced to a whole life term for the kidnap, rape and murder of Everard North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Philip Allott claimed in a radio interview that women should learn to be more ‘streetwise’ .
The comment was construed to amount to victim blaming, and let to uproar in many quarters.
Earlier today, the panel that Allott reports to unanimously passed a no-confidence vote in the Commissioner and urged him to step down, however he initially stated he would stay in the job and attempt to ‘regain people’s trust.’
In a statement issued in the hours following the vote, Allott said that it had become clear that resigning was the ‘honourable thing’ to do, and that he was doing to ‘to restore confidence in the office which I believe will be almost impossible for me to do, and to enable victims’ voices to be heard clearly without the distraction of the continued furore which surrounds me.’
Members of North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime panel, which oversees the Commissioner but has no power to remove a person from the role, said following the no-confidence vote that Allott’s comments were ‘at best naive, crass even, at worst wrong-headed, misguided.’
Allot once told BBC Radio York that women should know ‘when they can be arrested and when they can’t be arrested,’ after more than 800 complaints were received by his office.
‘As all of North Yorkshire knows, it was wrong, entirely misconceived (and) grossly insensitive,’ he told the panel ahead of the vote.
Several other high ranking police figures, including Met commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, have also faced calls to resign following alleged failings surrounding the Everard cmurder.