A woman targeted by Sam Gould in February “immediately” phoned police and gave them his vehicle registration – yet he was not arrested or questioned.
The failure allowed Gould – then a senior aide to health secretary Wes Streeting – to strike again a month later in an even more serious incident.
He masturbated in front of a 13-year-old girl and then chased her around a Romford estate in his car as she cried for help.
Gould was spared jail on Monday, April 28, and instead given a suspended sentence with a rehabilitation requirement.
Romford Recorder readers expressed horror at the Met’s failure to catch Gould after the first incident, saying the case bore a disturbing resemblance to that of killer cop Wayne Couzens.
Met Police officer Couzens was reported over a series of flashing incidents but remained free to kidnap, rape and murder Sarah Everard in south London in 2021.
One of our readers commented online, under our story about Gould: “So the first incident was a month before the second, the victim reported it to the police along with his registration number and the police, just, what, did nothing for a month? Colour me surprised. Shades of what happened with Couzens too, no?”
Gould, 33, of Lodge Court in Hornchurch, was a Labour councillor in Redbridge and worked for Ilford North MP Wes Streeting.
He had also contested Andrew Rosindell’s seat in Parliament for Labour at the 2015 general election, securing just less than 21 per cent of the vote.
He was sacked by Streeting and resigned from the council after his arrest in March.
On February 9, a female dog walker reported seeing a white Mini Cooper drive past her in Hornchurch.
As she turned into Patricia Drive, she passed the car, which was now parked. Gould was at the wheel, with the windows down, masturbating.
Sentencing Gould on Monday (April 28), District Judge Paul Donegan said: “She noted the registration of your vehicle and called the police immediately. Police attended in very short order but your vehicle was no longer in the area.”
However, no explanation was given for why police didn’t use the number plate to look Gould up and take action.
Jamie Klingler, who co-founded women’s safety campaign Reclaim These Streets in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder, said the failure to act had left Gould free to strike again.
“This is a perfect illustration of how nothing has been done since the so-called watershed moment of Sarah’s murder,” she said.
“Instead of treating indecent exposure like the sexually predatory and gateway crime it is, they still treat it like a streaker at a football match.”
Around lunchtime on March 8, Gould parked up in Hainault Road, Romford, wound down his windows and began masturbating, this time in front of a 13-year-old girl.
When she fled, Gould chased her around both in his car and on foot.
“That child’s routines and sense of security will have been altered,” said Ms Klingler, “but not the continuing lack of police concern about women’s safety. We can count on the fact that the police are unlikely to ever make women and girls a priority.”
She said it was an added insult that the second incident occurred on Saturday, March 8 – International Women’s Day – when the Met held what she called “bogus and performative celebrations to tell women and girls we are safer.”
Gould pleaded guilty in March to committing both offences with intent. His lawyer told the sentencing hearing this week that he had been experiencing personal difficulties at the time and was seeking specialist therapy.
The Metropolitan Police Service did not respond to repeated approaches for comment, saying the lead officer in the case was on leave.
