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Wayne Couzens should never have been a police officer and there needs to be a “radical overhaul” of police recruitment to stop “another Couzens operating in plain sight”, an inquiry into the rape and murder of Sarah Everard has found.

The independent report – the first of three that will be published by Lady Elish Angiolini – delivered a damning verdict on how three separate police forces “could and should” have stopped Couzens.

The Home Office commissioned inquiry was established to understand how the off-duty Metropolitan Police officer was able to carry out his horrendous crime.

33-year-old marketing executive Sarah Everard was murdered by former police officer Wayne Couzens
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Sarah Everard was walking home from a friend’s house when Couzens snatched her in Clapham

Today’s report examined Couzens’ career and highlights how major red flags about him were “repeatedly ignored” by police vetting and investigations.

A preference for “extreme and violent pornography” and “a history of excessive spending and personal debt” were among the warning signs that were missed.

The inquiry said it has also seen evidence that Couzens allegedly committed a “very serious sexual assault against a child” before his policing career even began.

The firearms officer will never be released from prison after he used his police-issued warrant card to stage a fake arrest and snatch Sarah Everard in Clapham, south London, on 3 March 2021.

He drove the 33-year-old marketing executive to a secluded rural area near Dover in Kent, raped and strangled her with his police-issue belt before burning her body in a fridge and dumping her remains in a pond.

After the harrowing killing, it emerged there had been concerns about Couzens’ behaviour while he was a police officer, with reports he was nicknamed “the rapist”.

Read more:
How Sarah Everard’s killer was caught
Timeline: Wayne Couzen’s behaviour and crimes

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‘Couzens was never fit to be police officer’

Couzens indecently exposed himself three times before the murder, including twice at a drive-through fast food restaurant in Kent in the days before the killing.

He was not caught despite driving his own car and using his own credit card at the time.

Publishing her findings, Lady Elish said: “Failures of investigations, failures of recruitment processes, and failures of vetting policy and practice are a depressingly familiar refrain in policing.

“Wayne Couzens should never have been a police officer. And, without a significant overhaul, there is nothing to stop another Couzens operating in plain sight.”

Couzens’ dreadful crimes expose wider issues

A while ago I interviewed a new police recruit, a personable young man called Tom Fonteyn who used to serve me a white americano in my local cafe before he decided to get what he considered a more meaningful career.

He had been rejected in his first application but was so determined to become a copper that he persevered and was finally accepted by Sussex Police.

He’d finished his probation and had just made his first arrest, but his sense of pride and achievement had been dented by the scandal of Wayne Couzens.

He told me: “Whenever the police mess up, it’s always straight on the news, but people like Wayne Couzens are just individuals, they don’t represent policing.”

But Couzens’s dreadful crimes did expose wider issues: terrible failings in vetting procedures, tolerance of bad attitudes and missed opportunities to sack a rogue officer.

The Angiolini Report has unearthed even more shameful details of what went wrong and
not just at the Metropolitan Police.

The Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley probably agrees with Mr Fonteyn’s thoughts on singling out one officer, but he can’t say so because, rightly or wrongly, PC Couzens really did become the poster boy for bad policing.

Rowley’s mission has been to tear down those posters and restore public confidence in policing. I think he’s doing his best, but Lady Angiolini’s findings will further damn his force in the public’s mind.

I’m sure the commissioner would also agree with Mr Fonteyn’s comments on his own police training, as he told me: “We are taught to respect people, treat them like you would your mum and dad, or your brother. Just being human is the really important thing. I want to help people.

“If you are called to deal with someone really struggling, and you’re the only person they see that day, in the time you are with them you can try and make a good impact on them, maybe guide them, even change their views on the police.”

That’s about as far from what Wayne Couzens did to his victim Sarah Everard as it’s possible to get.

Couzens failed at interview when he first tried to join Kent Police in 2004.

He became a volunteer constable with the county’s special constabulary in 2006, before failing to gain vetting clearance in a further application to join the regular police force in 2008.

Despite that vetting failure, he continued to work as a volunteer officer.

The next missed opportunity identified by the report was in 2011, when Couzens moved to the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC).

His application was vetted by Thames Valley Police, which recommended that Couzens should not pass vetting on the grounds of his financial situation.

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‘I’m sorry Couzens wasn’t arrested earlier’

Couzens’ financial issues

At the time he had an Individual Voluntary Arrangement, used by those in debt wishing to avoid bankruptcy, but the recommendation was not followed.

During an episode in 2013, when he was serving as an authorised firearms officer with the CNC, Couzens was “reported missing” from home. But the CNC was not informed and therefore denied an opportunity to revisit his suitability as a constable.

Couzens then moved to the Met in 2018 but again his initial vetting was “flawed”.

It failed to take into account entries linked to him on the Police National Database, which included his car being linked to an allegation of indecent exposure in 2015.

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‘We could have saved her’: Victims of Couzens’ indecent exposure shared ‘survivors guilt’ in court

The report found that Couzens had substantial unsecured debt by the time he was arrested for Ms Everard’s murder, which “undoubtedly affected his ability to serve as an authorised firearms officer”.

It also details allegations of how Couzens tried to show colleagues violent and extreme pornography. On at least two occasions, he allegedly shared sexually graphic images with young women.

But the most glaring missed opportunities to disrupt Couzens’ offending and end his police career were the failures to properly investigate allegations of indecent assault.

Sarah Everard was last seen on 3 March in south London
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Sarah Everard’s disappearance sparked a nationwide appeal for information in March 2021

Kent Police made ‘grave error’, report finds

Couzens was the subject of such allegations on four separate occasions before his arrest.

In 2015, a member of the public telephoned Kent Police having just seen a man driving a car while indecently exposing himself.

Almost immediately, officers identified Couzens as the registered keeper of the car and the only male insured to drive it.

But Kent Police closed the case and took no further action, which is described as a “grave error”.

The same force responded to an allegation of indecent exposure directed at a lone female cyclist in a narrow, country lane in Deal in 2020.

Couzens was convicted of the offence in 2023, but the initial case was closed with limited investigation.

Then, just days before he abducted Sarah Everard, Couzens was reported for exposing himself at a drive-through McDonald’s restaurant in Swanley.

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Wayne Couzens
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Couzens was arrested on 9 March 2021, seven days after Sarah Everard went missing

But evidence such as CCTV was not collected or considered in the Met’s investigation, which “fell below the standards any victim of crime should expect”.

The inquiry says it is aware of five other alleged incidents of sexual offending involving Couzens which were never reported to the police.

In her report, Lady Elish, a former solicitor general for Scotland, lays out 16 recommendations to “bring about the necessary changes”.

They include an overhaul of police vetting and recruitment, improvements to the police response to indecent exposure and an immediate review of indecent exposure charges against serving police officers.

“I would urge all those in authority in every police force in the country to read this report and take immediate action,” she said. “Sarah’s parents and loved ones live in the perpetual grief and pain of having lost Sarah in this way.

“Her death, and the public discourse it caused, should galvanise those responsible for policing to make sure something like this can never happen again.”

Floral tributes left next to the bandstand in Clapham Common, London, for Sarah Everard. Pc Wayne Couzens, 48, appeared at the Old Bailey in London charged with the kidnap and murder of the 33-year-old. Picture date: Tuesday March 16, 2021.
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Floral tributes left at Clapham Common in the wake of Sarah Everard’s death

Sarah Everard’s family respond to inquiry

Sarah Everard’s family “strongly support” the recommendations, which will “improve the safety of women and girls”.

In a statement, they said: “The inquiry has helped us, not just because of its significant findings, but because its implementation made us feel that Sarah’s life was valued and her memory honoured.

“Her death has not been dismissed as a tragic event to be acknowledged with sympathy and then forgotten – questions have been raised and action taken to investigate how this tragedy happened.”

They added: “It is obvious that Wayne Couzens should never have been a police officer. Whilst holding a position of trust, in reality he was a serial sex offender.

“Warning signs were overlooked throughout his career and opportunities to confront him were missed. We believe that Sarah died because he was a police officer – she would never have got into a stranger’s car.

“It is almost three years now since Sarah died. We no longer wait for her call; we no longer expect to see her. We know she won’t be there at family gatherings.

“But the desperate longing to have her with us remains and her loss of Sarah pervades every part of our lives.”

The second part of the inquiry will take a broader look at police vetting and recruitment nationally, as well as police culture and the protection of women in public spaces.

Part three will investigate the crimes and career of former Metropolitan Police Officer David Carrick, who was jailed for at least 30 years last year after being unmasked as one of Britain’s worst ever sex offenders.

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Welfare versus warfare: Sir Keir Starmer’s unresolved question – and why the PM’s pinned his hopes on economic growth

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Welfare versus warfare: Sir Keir Starmer's unresolved question  - and why the PM's pinned his hopes on economic growth

Welfare versus warfare: for decades, it’s a question to which successive prime ministers have responded with one answer.

After the end of the Cold War, leaders across the West banked the so-called “peace dividend” that came with the end of this conflict between Washington and Moscow.

Instead of funding their armies, they invested in the welfare state and public services instead.

But now the tussle over this question is something that the current prime minister is grappling with, and it is shaping up to be one of the biggest challenges for Sir Keir Starmer since he got the job last year.

As Clement Attlee became the Labour prime minister credited with creating the welfare state after the end of the Second World War, so it now falls on the shoulders of the current Labour leader to create the warfare state as Europe rearms.

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UK to buy nuclear-carrying jets

Be it Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, arguing last year that Europe had moved from the post-war era to the pre-war era; or European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen calling on the EU to urgently rearm Ukraine so it is a “steel porcupine” against Russian invaders; there is a consensus that the UK and Europe are on – to quote Sir Keir – a “war footing” and must spend more on defence.

To that end the prime minister has committed to increase UK defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, raiding the overseas development aid budget to do so, and has also committed, alongside other NATO allies, to spend 5% of GDP on defence by 2035.

More on Defence

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What is NATO’s 5% defence spending goal?

That is a huge leap in funding and a profound shift from what have been the priorities for government spending – the NHS, welfare and education – in recent decades.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ Carl Emmerson said the increase, in today’s terms, would be like adding approximately £30bn to the 2027 target of spending around £75bn on core defence.

Sir Keir has been clear-eyed about the decision, arguing that the first duty of any prime minister is to keep his people safe.

But the pledge has raised the obvious questions about how those choices are funded, and whether other public services will face cuts at a time when the UK’s economic growth is sluggish and public finances are under pressure.

This, then, is one of his biggest challenges: can he make sure Britain looks after itself in a fragile world, while also sticking to his promises to deliver for the country?

It is on this that the prime minister has come unstuck over the summer, as he was forced to back down over proposed welfare cuts to the tune of £5bn at the end of this term, in the face of a huge backbench rebellion. Many of his MPs want warfare and welfare.

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Starmer and Merz sign deal on defence and migration

“There’s been a real collision in recent weeks between those two policy worlds,” explains Jim Murphy, who served both as a welfare minister under Tony Blair and shadow defence secretary under Ed Miliband.

“In welfare, how do you provide for the people who genuinely need support and who, without the state’s support, couldn’t survive? What’s the interplay between that and the unconditional strategic need to invest more in defence?

“For the government, they either get economic growth or they have a series of eye-watering choices in which there can be no compromise with the defence of the state and everything else faces very serious financial pressures.”

He added: “No Labour politician comes into politics to cut welfare, schools or other budgets. But on the basis that defence is non-negotiable, everything else, unfortunately, may face those cuts.”

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‘There are lines I will not cross’

While the PM sees this clearly, ask around the cabinet table and ministers will admit that the tough choices society will need to take if they genuinely want to respond to the growing threat from Russia, compounded by the unpredictability of Donald Trump, is yet to fully sink in.

There are generations of British citizens that have only ever lived in peace, that do not, like I do, remember the Cold War or The Troubles.

There are also millions of Britons struggling with the cost of living and and public satisfaction with key public services is at historic lows. That is why Labour campaigned in the election on the promise of change, to raise living standards and cut NHS waiting lists.

Ask the public, and 49% of people recognise defence spending needs to increase. But 53% don’t want it to come from other areas of public spending, while 55% are opposed to paying more tax to fund that defence increase.

There is also significant political resistance from the Labour Party.

Sir Keir’s attempts to make savings in the welfare budget have been roundly rejected by his MPs. Instead, his backbenchers are talking about more tax rises to fund public services, or even a broader rethink of Rachel Reeves’s fiscal rules.

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Rachel Reeves’s fiscal dilemma

Anneliese Dodds, who quit as development minister over cuts to the overseas aid budget, wrote in her resignation letter that she had “expected [cabinet] would collectively discuss our fiscal rules and approach to taxation, as other nations are doing”, as part of a wider discussion about the changing threats.

In an interview for our Electoral Dysfunction podcast, which will be released later this summer, she expanded on this idea.

She said: “I think it’s really important to take a step back and think about what’s going to be necessary, looking 10, 20 years ahead. It looks like the world is not going to become safer, unfortunately, during that period. It’s really important that we increase defence spending.

“I think that does mean we’ve got to really carefully consider those issues about our fiscal rules and about taxation. That isn’t easy… nonetheless, I think we will have to face up to some really big issues.

“Now is the time when we need to look at what other countries are doing. We need to consider whether we have the right system in place.”

Minister for Women and Equalities Anneliese Dodds arrives for a Cabinet meeting in central London. Picture date: Friday February 7, 2025. PA Photo. See PA story POLITICS Cabinet. Photo credit should read: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire
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Anneliese Dodds quit the government over cuts to the overseas aid budget. Pic: PA

For the Labour MP, that means potentially reassessing the fiscal rules and how the fiscal watchdog assesses government spending to perhaps give the government more leeway. She also believes that the government should look again at tax rises.

She added: “We do, I believe, need to think about taxation.

“Now again, there’s no magic wand. There will be implications from any change that would be made. As I said before, we are quite highly taxing working people now, but I think there are ways in which we can look at taxation, not without implications.

“But in a world of difficult trade-offs, we’ve got to take the least worst trade-off for the long term. And that’s what I think is gonna be really important.”

Those trade-offs are going to be discussed more and more into the autumn, ahead of what is looking like an extremely difficult budget for the PM and Ms Reeves.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at the launch of the 10-year health plan in east London. Pic: PA
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer are facing difficult choices. Pic: PA

Not only is the chancellor now dealing with a £5bn shortfall in her accounts from the welfare reform reversal, but she is also dealing with higher-than-expected borrowing costs, fuelled by surging debt costs.

Plus, government borrowing was £3.5bn more than forecast last month, with June’s borrowing coming in at £20.7bn – the second-highest figure since records began in 1993.

Some economists are now predicting that the chancellor will have to raise taxes or cut spending by around £20bn in the budget to fill the growing black hole.

Former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt
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Former chancellor Jeremy Hunt says Labour’s U-turn on cuts to welfare risk trapping Britain in a ‘doom loop’

Jeremy Hunt, former Conservative chancellor and now backbencher, tells me he was “massively disappointed” that Labour blinked on welfare reform.

He said: “First of all, it’s terrible for people who are currently trapped on welfare, but secondly, because the risk is that the consequence of that, is that we get trapped in a doom loop of very higher taxes and lower growth.”

‘This group of politicians have everything harder ‘

Mr Murphy says he has sympathy for the predicament of this Labour government and the task they face.

He explained: “We were fortunate [back in the early 2000s] in that the economy was still relatively okay, and we were able to reform welfare and do really difficult reforms. This is another world.

“This group of politicians have everything harder than we had. They’ve got an economy that has been contracting, public services post-COVID in trouble, a restless public, a digital media, an American president who is at best unreliable, a Russian president.

“Back then [in the 2000s] it was inconceivable that we would fight a war with Russia. On every measure, this group of politicians have everything harder than we ever had.”

Over the summer and into the autumn, the drumbeat of tax rises will only get louder, particularly amongst a parliamentary party seemingly unwilling to back spending cuts.

But that just delays a problem unresolved, which is how a government begins to spend billions more on defence whilst also trying to maintain a welfare state and rebuild public services.

This is why the government is pinning so much hope onto economic growth as it’s escape route out of its intractable problem. Because without real economic growth to help pay for public services, the government will have to make a choice – and warfare will win out.

What is still very unclear is how Sir Keir manages to take his party and the people with him.

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Jay Slater inquest resumes after final effort to trace witnesses – all you need to know

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Jay Slater inquest resumes after final effort to trace witnesses - all you need to know

An inquest into the death of teenager Jay Slater is due to resume today after being adjourned two months ago.

The 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, disappeared on the Spanish island of Tenerife after attending the NRG music festival on 16 June 2024.

He was reported missing and, after an extensive search and rescue mission and significant media attention, his body was found a month later on 15 July.

An inquest into the teenager’s death began in May at Preston Coroner’s Court, but was adjourned the same day, to the disappointment of Mr Slater’s mother Debbie Duncan.

Dr James Adeley, a senior coroner for Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen, made the decision after a number of witnesses who had been asked to give evidence could not be traced or were unable to attend.

After making a final effort to trace key witnesses, the inquest will now resume on 23 and 24 July. Here is all you need to know.

What happened to Jay Slater?

On 17 June 2024, just days into his first holiday without his family, Mr Slater was reported missing.

The night before, he is believed to have left his friends at the Papagayo nightclub in the resort of Playa de las Americas and made an hour-long drive to a modest Airbnb in the tiny village of Masca, with two people he had met on the holiday.

Phone data reveals Mr Slater’s last known location was the Rural de Teno park – a mountainous area popular with hikers.

The 19-year-old’s disappearance sparked a huge 29-day search effort – with emergency services, local volunteers and Mr Slater’s family combing a large mountainous area of the island searching for any trace of the teenager.

Within days, Facebook groups dedicated to the case had also been set up – with some quickly attracting hundreds of thousands of members.

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July 2024: Where was Jay Slater found?

The Spanish civil guard released a statement on 15 July to say they had “located the lifeless body of a young man in the Masca area after 29 days of constant search”.

What happened during the first inquest hearing?

Mr Slater’s mother Debbie Duncan, stepfather and other family members gathered at the inquest in Preston Coroner’s Court on 21 May.

Home Office pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd said Mr Slater’s injuries were “entirely consistent” with a fall from a great height and gave an official cause of death as a head injury.

“The injuries were so severe I have no doubt he would have been instantly unconscious from the moment of that blow to the head. Death could well have been instant, the injury was so severe,” Dr Shepherd said.

Pic: Reuters
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The search and rescue mission was launched a day after Jay Slater was reported missing. Pic: Reuters

He said there was no suggestion that the teenager had been assaulted or restrained.

Toxicology expert Dr Stephanie Martin said traces of MDMA and MDA, commonly known as ecstasy, along with cocaine and alcohol, were also found in Mr Slater’s body.

Detective Chief Inspector Rachel Higson, from Lancashire Constabulary, told the court that messages from Mr Slater’s friends advising him to go home were found on his phone

Pic: Reuters
Guardia Civil agents and police officers organise the search for the young Briton Jay Slater in the Masca ravine, on the island of Tenerife, Spain, June 26, 2024. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
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Civil Guard agents and police officers in the Masca ravine. Pic: Reuters

Officers were flanked by specialist sniffer dogs from Madrid

DCI Higson said at 8.35am on 17 June, his friend Ms Law sent him a message saying: “Before it gets boiling get back to wherever you have come from.”

At 8.50am there was the last known outgoing communication from Mr Slater’s phone, a 22-second call from him to Ms Law in which he is believed to have said he had cut his leg on a cactus, he was lost in the mountains and his phone battery was on 1%.

A view of Preston Coroner's Court, Lancashire, at the opening of the inquest into the death of Nicola Bulley, who disappeared on January 27
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The inquest is taking place at Preston Coroner’s Court. Pic: PA

Who are the missing witnesses?

The witnesses that the court tried to trace the first time included Bradley Geoghegan, Brandon Hodgson and Lucy Law, who were all with Mr Slater in Tenerife.

At the time of the first inquest it is believed they were not in the UK and were unable to attend.

Read more from Sky News:
How search for missing teenager captured nation’s attention
Inside the valley where Jay Slater’s body was found

The two men who were staying at the Airbnb property Mr Slater travelled to before his disappearance – Ayub Qassim and Steven Roccas – were unable to be traced, despite summonses being issued.

Mr Slater’s mother Ms Duncan told the court in May that she wanted “these people to be sat in front of us, because our son went on holiday and didn’t come back, so there’s questions we need to ask”.

Coroner Dr Adeley said he would adjourn the inquest in an effort to find the witnesses and give Ms Duncan the “answers you want”, but it remains unknown if the key witnesses will appear at the inquest on Thursday and Friday.

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Off-the-shelf medical tests are failing to back up accuracy promises with evidence, study finds

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Off-the-shelf medical tests are failing to back up accuracy promises with evidence, study finds

Off-the-shelf medical tests that promise to diagnose conditions ranging from vitamin deficiencies to cancer are lacking evidence to back up their accuracy, a study has found.

Thirty self-testing kits were purchased from a range of mainstream supermarkets, pharmacies and health and wellbeing shops by researchers from the University of Birmingham in 2023.

The kits tested for vitamin deficiency, blood cholesterol, menopause and bowel cancer. These tests are often marketed as tools for empowerment and early detection at a time when the NHS is already over-stretched.

Accuracy claims were made for 24 of these tests however, and nearly six out of 10 (14) promised 98% accuracy. However, evidence supporting these claims was largely unavailable, according to a series of papers published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

In addition, 18 of the tests (60%) were found to have errors that could lead to a wrong result. This included 11 that had problems with equipment, 10 showing issues with the sampling process and 15 that had problems with the instructions of interpretation of results.

Where information about what types of accuracy methods were available, about a third of those compared their test with another similar test – not a proper, trusted medical test.

Most of the tests also did not explain who they tested them on to provide the accuracy data.

These types of testing kits are not subject to the same stringent checks that a new medication would have to go through.

The University of Birmingham’s Professor Jon Deeks, a corresponding author of the study, said: “Our findings highlight concerns about the value of these self-tests because the instructions for use for many of them recommended seeing a doctor regardless of the test result (positive or negative).”

Can these tests cause harm?

Dr Clare Davenport, co-author of the study, said the benefit of many of these tests “is lacking”.

“This is in contrast to well-established self-tests, such as pregnancy tests,” she said.

“We are worried that consumers concerned about their health and tempted by the convenience of buying a test over the counter may be harmed if they use these tests in the wrong way.”

A false positive on such a test may lead to anxiety, unnecessary investigations and even overtreatment, while a false negative could lead to delays in treatment.

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Pic: University of Birmingham
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Pic: University of Birmingham

Researchers are now calling for better regulation and guidance from manufacturers, retailers and healthcare professionals to protect consumers of off-the-shelf health self-tests.

There were some limitations to the test – namely that they were bought two years ago and were not intended to be a sample of what is available across the country.

“But given what they do say about where they got the tests, I’d be surprised if they aren’t pretty much the same anywhere nowadays,” said Professor Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at The Open University.

He said the results were “scary and concerning”.

“I don’t doubt the findings of the researchers, that many of the available tests don’t make it clear who could make good use of them, how accurate the results might be, or what someone should do in the light of their results.”

‘History offers cautionary tales’

“Self-tests should not be dismissed outright though,” wrote Jessica Watson from the Centre for Academic Primary Care, and Margaret McCartney, from the University of St Andrews, in an editorial for the BMJ.

“History offers cautionary tales: when home pregnancy tests were first introduced, some doctors argued that women could not be trusted to use them.

“Clearly that is not the case.

“The use of HIV self-tests has been extensively and carefully evaluated, with decades of research, including large randomised controlled trials.”

However, they say that these examples are of tests that are “binary” with yes or no answers, and are integrated within healthcare systems, “with clear actions to be taken based on the results”.

The study was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre.

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