HOME Secretary Priti Patel paid a moving tribute to York woman Sarah Everard on a flying visit to the city today - and pledged to take action to make women and girls feel safer.

Ms Patel said that what had happened to Sarah was 'so tragic and so appalling'.

"All our condolences are with Sarah's family and friends," she said, during a 30-minute stopover in York to support the conservative candidate for police, fire and crime commissioner, Philip Allott.

Ms Patel said it was unacceptable that so many women and girls still felt intimidated and threatened when going about their daily lives. Even school-age girls were being harassed, she said.

The Home Secretary said that, following Sarah's death, a national consultation launched last year to look at the violence and intimidation that women and young girls faced had been reopened. "We have had 180,000 members of the public writing to us in response," she said. "Those responses will inform our strategy."

Ms Patel condemned the 'minority' of people who had used protests against the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill to commit acts of violence against police officers which had left several officers injured.

It was nonsense to suggest that the bill represented a threat to the right to protest, she said. "The right to peaceful protest is a cornerstone of democracy'.

Asked about how trust in the police could be restored, she added: "The police are remarkable public servants. They put themselves at risk to keep us safe. There is a great deal of support for the police."

Ms Patel was speaking during a 30-minute visit to The Red House cattery and kennels at Murton - one of conservative candidate Mr Allott's priorities, if he becomes North Yorkshire police and crime commissioner following the election on May 6, is pet theft.

Inevitably, the Home Secretary was questioned about her boss Boris Johnson's taste in wallpaper. Was Mr Johnson rattled by the questions he was being asked about the redecoration of the flat above No 11 Downing Street? "I spent some time in meetings with the Prime Minister yesterday," she said. "He's very focussed on the job." There would be an inquiry, she said. "But the Prime Minister has said that he paid."

She quickly steered the conversation back to the police and crime commissioner elections. Another of Mr Allott's local priorities, if he is elected, is to tackle county lines drugs gangs operating across North Yorkshire. Ms Patel said these gangs were a 'scourge'. Since November 2019, she said, her government had invested £65 million in tackling the gangs. Since September 2019, meanwhile, 8,771 new police officers had been recruited across the country.

"But there is much more that we can do," she said.

One last question - did she really think it was appropriate that there should be political candidates for a role such as police, fire and crime commissioner? Shouldn't policing be above politics?

"These are important roles with big responsibilities," she said. "They are elected roles. But this is not about politics. It is about transparency and accountability."