HOME Secretary Priti Patel spoke to the York parents of Sarah Everard on Zoom before her body was found, and later invited them to meet her at the Home Office, it has been reported.

The Sunday Times said that the Home Secretary's meetings with Jeremy and Sarah Everard heightened her frustration with the Metropolitan Police.

It reported that she was 'bewildered' by the attitude of senior officers in the force, in particular commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, and was determined to break what she saw as a dysfunctional and misogynistic police culture.

The newspaper, quoting a senior Home Office source, said the commissioner had infuriated Patel when she allegedly ignored inquiries she tried to make on behalf of Mr and Mrs Everard in March.

Patel announced an independent inquiry last week into the force's handling of the case of Ms Everard, who was murdered by Met Officer Wayne Couzens, who had arrested and handcuffed her in London on the pretext of Covid regulations and was recently sentenced to a whole-life term.