A woman who was sexually harassed at the vigil for Sarah Everard has spoken out about how it felt when a policeman refused to help her.
Georgina, 27, appeared on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday and explained how she attended the vigil in Sarah's memory, before walking past a man who exposed himself to her later on in the evening.
The vigil in Clapham Common was held to remember Sarah, who went missing on March 3rd with a Metropolitan Police officer charged with her kidnap and murder.
Georgina, who was walking her dog at the time, immediately sought the help of nearby Metropolitan Police officers, and says a woman officer attempted to help but was silenced by a male officer who said: "No, we've had enough tonight with the rioters."
"I was shocked and disgusted," said Georgina, who says it is not the first time she has been a victim of indecent exposure.
"He said, 'I don't want to deal with it, I don't want to deal with rioters,' and that's when he collected his colleagues and brought them to the van.
"I think that it highlights there must have been a miscommunication between what the police thought they were there to do, which in my opinion was to keep people safe, rather than break up what was a peaceful vigil.
"I live locally and I thought since [the vigil] was cancelled there wouldn't be many people there, and as it's such a short walk I thought it would be right to go and pay my respects and lay some flowers.
"It was more crowded than I anticipated, but most people were wearing masks and were socially distanced.
"When I was told by a police officer to leave, that is what I did, I gave distance, but I did watch for about 45 minutes as things unfolded, from a safe distance."
Georgina continued: "As I headed home, there was a man who was quite incoherent, and unfortunately he had his genitals out, I felt really uncomfortable as I was forced to walk past him.
"This is not the first time it's happened to me, I know it's happened to a lot of women, and we don't usually have the chance to report it at the time.
"There was police a couple of moments away and I thought it was appropriate to tell them what had happened.
"At the very least had I been walked to a safer, better lit area, I would have accepted it. The female officer said she would go and check it out, but the male officer interjected."
Asked how she felt when she was refused assistance, Georgina replied: "Frankly I was shocked and disgusted, I said, 'This is why we are here, why would you say this?'
"I was quite emotional and distraught, because if you can't go up to police when this happens, what can I do?
"I felt really unsafe," she added.
Georgina has made a plea to the officer who shunned her, saying she is "curious" to hear his side of the story and why he felt it was the appropriate way to respond.
She has since reported the indecent exposure incident and says it is now being taken seriously, with two female officers contacting her about the offence and expressing "disappointment" that an officer refused to help her at the time, and have apologised.
Jess Phillips, who is the Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence, pointed out that indecent exposure is a sex crime.
A police officer has been removed from their duties after allegedly sending an "inappropriate" message via WhatsApp while guarding the scene where Sarah Everard's remains were found.
The probationary Metropolitan Police officer involved in the search operation in Kent has been suspended as they are accused of sharing the graphic with colleagues.
* Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV at 6am
