A WOMAN has today claimed she was sexually assaulted on the same night and in the same area that Sarah Everard vanished.
The woman revealed she felt a “creeping sickness in my stomach” after seeing missing posters for Sarah.
Follow our live blog for the latest developments on the Sarah Everard case
Marketing executive Sarah vanished on the night of March 3 as she walked home to Brixton from Clapham.
And writing in the Evening Standard, the unnamed woman said she had been let shaken after realising the 33-year-old had disappeared on the same night she was sexually assaulted in a separate incident nearby – and has since reported the incident to police.
She wrote: “Whether or not it was helpful in their investigations, or was linked to Sarah’s disappearance, I do not know.
“But what it does tell me is that on one evening, in one small residential corner of a city, more than one woman was targeted by an attacker.”
She said she had been left “shocked but not surprised” by the sexual assault.
But the woman said she had been horrified seeing other women take to social media to share their own experiences.
Sarah’s disappearance has led scores of women to reveal their own horrifying experiences and explain how they do not feel safe on the streets at night.
She wrote: “Did those victims also, like I did, calmly accept their experience as just part of being a woman?
“How many other women experienced something that evening and felt safer staying silent? Could it have been any one of us? Had I in fact had the luckiest escape of my life? It’s a thought I find absurd and terrifying in equal measure.”
And the author encouraged women to report incidents to police, saying: “We cannot let our fear go unspoken any more.”
A vigil is now being planned for this Saturday, with organisers urging participants to socially-distance at the event in Clapham where Sarah was last seen.
Cop Wayne Couzens, 48, has been arrested on suspicion of murder and kidnap after cops launched an investigation into Sarah’s disappearance.
Human remains were found in woodland in Kent on Wednesday, but identification is expected to take some time.
Saturday’s vigil will be for Sarah and also for women who feel unsafe and face violence everyday.
Organisers plan to hold a minute’s silence.
However they were left furious after police warned the gathering would be unlawful due to Covid rules.
Last night, Reclaim The Streets said in a statement: “The Metropolitan Police said that they were ‘trying to navigate a way through’ and that they were ‘currently developing a local policing plan’ to allow the vigil to take place and to enable them to ‘develop an appropriate and proportionate local response’ to the event.
“Since this statement, the Metropolitan Police have reversed their position and stated that the vigil would be unlawful and that, as organisers, we could face tens of thousands of pounds in fines and criminal prosecution under the Serious Crimes Act.”
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A Met Police spokesman said: “We understand the public’s strength of feeling and are aware of the statement issued by Reclaim The Streets with regard to a planned vigil for Sarah Everard in Clapham Common this weekend.
“We remain in discussion with the organisers about this event in light of the current Covid regulations.”
The Sun Online has approached Met Police for comment in relation to reported sex assault.
