THE Southend woman arrested at the vigil for Sarah Everard said she had “never been so scared” – but wants to focus on women’s safety rather than the police’s actions on the day.

Patsy Stevenson was arrested at the vigil for Sarah Everard in Clapham Common on Saturday, with pictures of her arrest going viral and being seen by millions of people online.

Ms Everard, 33, of Brixton, south London, went missing while walking home from a friend's home.

Her body was tragically found in Ashford, Kent, and Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens, 48, has been charged with her murder.

In response to her death, a vigil was held on Clapham Common on Saturday evening to show solidarity.

Speaking on ITV's Good Morning Britain this morning, Ms Stevenson, 28, a former South Essex College pupil who now studies in London, said she “did not know why she was pushed to the ground so forcefully”.

She claimed said she only attended the vigil to lay a candle.

Speaking to presenters Susanna Reid and Ben Shepherd, she said: "I still don't know why I was pushed to the ground so forcefully.

"I'm quite small and it was two very large male officers who pulled me back very quickly and I hit the ground.

"From start to finish it was a whirlwind. It happened very quickly.

“I was only there to lay a candle down - I did not expect that to happen.

“When I first heard about what was going on, a lot of people wanted to go down. There had been videos recently on social media platforms saying ‘if there were no men for 24 hours what would you do?’.

“A lot of women came forward and said ‘Well, I would walk the streets at night, alone, with my headphones in’, and I thought, how strange that a lot of women are saying this, and we don’t have the freedom to do that.

“And I think that this is something that we all related to, and we all wanted to pay respects.”

"I was terrified. I have never been so scared.

"What was scary as well, was as soon as I was pinned to the ground, I looked up and there were cameras everywhere, and I thought ‘oh my god, this is big’. I didn't even realise they pinned me onto the ground. I wasn't resisting or anything.

Ben Shephard asked Ms Stevenson if she had concerns about thousands of people showing up to the vigil during a pandemic, and that police may have been in a difficult position from a public health perspective.

Ms Stevenson replied: "I fully understand that police have to do their job. I’m not against police. The organisers were trying to get it so the police were involved, in a safe way, and make sure people are maintaining social distance.

“All we wanted was for women to be able to mourn and share each other's company in a safe space, and it wasn’t allowed to go ahead.

“I think people were angry with that, when it came out that we weren’t allowed to, people were like, ‘we’re going, we’re gonna make it safe’, we did intent for a safe vigil.”

Following the incident, The Met Police's Commissioner, Dame Cressida Dick was urged to step down, but Ms Stevenson said this should not be the main message.

Dame Dick has said she will not be resigning and is “more determined” to lead the force.

Ms Stevenson added: "I think we need to get the message away from 'we're against the police' and 'the police did wrong' and focus on the main message which is that we now need to open a dialogue for change and support women's safety."

On Sarah Everard’s family, she said: “I cannot understand what they are going through, all we wanted to do was show our respect and support, we’re all terribly sad that it happened.”

Ms Stevenson also addressed social media conversation about her being an actress, but she said the profile online was “old” and that she “wasn’t hired by anyone” and was not an actress, as she studies physics at university.

She also said she is an ambassador for women in physics, which is why the issue was important to her.