One year ago, on Monday 24th August, Sheryl Wilkins was murdered.

Her death could and should have been prevented.

Sheryl was murdered by a man with a history of violence against women who was known to the police for sexual offences for nine years.

The women we meet through our weekly outreach in the area where Sheryl was murdered have told us again and again how sex workers’ safety is undermined by criminalisation, harassment, and displacement. And we are witnessing it firsthand: the MET’s new ‘Clear, Hold, Build’ tactics in action.

‘Clear, Hold & Build’ is a military counter-insurgency tactic rebranded as policing:

• Clear: Harass, criminalise, and sweep away marginalised people—especially sex workers and rough sleepers—from public space.
• Hold: Flood the area with surveillance, stop-and-search, and heavy police presence to keep people from returning.
• Build: Pave the way for gentrification and social control under the guise of “regeneration.”

We see every day what that means for rough sleepers and sex workers: displacement, harassment, criminalisation, and greater isolation. It is social control. It is unacceptable. We will not accept a practice that makes marginalised women disappear from public space instead of making them safer.

For nearly a year, we have returned to this area every single week through our support work in solidarity. We have got to know a lot of the women there, built relationships, shared food, checked in on each other, and tried to create safety through community and solidarity. We have so much respect and love for all those groups and individuals who have also been supporting women in the area for many years, providing healthcare and advice with such beautiful compassion and empathy.

Every time we go back, we know all too well this is where Sheryl was brutally murdered.

We are heartbroken. Her friends are grieving. We are angry.

Sheryl should still be here.

She should never have become another name added to a list of women failed by systems that are meant to protect them.

There have been too many promises.

Too many reviews.

Too many statements of regret after women are killed.

We do not need another broken promise. We need action. We need accountability.

Police must be held accountable for what they knew, what they did, what they failed to do, and what must change so that this never happens again.

And we must be clear about the institution we are expected to trust. The police are neither neutral nor protective; they are an institutionally misogynistic, racist, and homophobic force with a relentless track record of failing women, sex workers, and working-class communities. Even the Met’s own Casey Review, published in March 2023, laid bare these institutional realities. Years later, nothing has changed.

Their power has too often been used to harass, criminalise, displace, and silence the very people who are told to turn to them for safety.

Make no mistake: safety cannot look like the criminalisation of sex workers. It cannot mean displacing women from the spaces where they know, look out for, and protect one another. True safety can never be achieved by treating sex workers as criminals while actively failing to protect them from violent men.

We need real safety. Real accountability. Real change.

Monday 24th August, from 8:00 PM

We will come together at the fatally dark car park where Sheryl was murdered.

• We will light it up.
• We will remember our friend.
• We will grieve together.
• We will hold each other tight.
• And we will bring our love and our rage.

Please come and stand with us. Bring lights. Bring love. Stand with us.

Rest in Power, Sheryl. 🖤 Love. Rage. Solidarity. #FuckThePatriarchy