Crime

Politicians and civil servants who participated in alleged Downing Street parties could be handed significant fines if police conclude that they broke Covid laws.The Metropolitan Police’s investigation is currently focused on whether various events broke the Health Protection Regulations that were in force at the time, and changed frequently through the pandemic.Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick told the London Assembly that fixed penalty notices would not “necessarily be issued in every instance and to every person involved”.She said that retrospective investigations for Covid breaches were only carried out for “the most serious and flagrant type of breach” where there was evidence and three criteria were met.“My three factors were and are: there was evidence that those involved knew, or ought to have known that what they were doing was an offence, where not investigating would significantly undermine the legitimacy of the law, and where there was little ambiguity around the absence of any reasonable defence. In those cases, where those criteria were met, the guidelines suggested that we should potentially investigate further and end up giving people tickets.”The announcement on Tuesday came after weeks of mounting pressure on the force to step in, as it maintained it would only investigate if it received evidence of potential criminal offences from Sue Gray’s inquiry.Dame Cressida said the investigation was triggered “as a result firstly of information provided by the Cabinet Office inquiry team and secondly my officers’ own assessment”.Scotland Yard said Ms Gray’s team had provided “outline findings” from its inquiry in recent days, and that it had formally requested all relevant evidence.The Green Party is calling for the police investigation to look at charges of misconduct in public office, but Scotland Yard said it would not “speculate” on whether the probe could be broadened beyond Covid laws.The offence is committed when a “public officer”, which includes MPs and ministers, “wilfully misconducts himself, to such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the public’s trust in the office holder without reasonable excuse or justification”.Fines have been the main method of enforcing Covid laws throughout the pandemic, and were used as a “last resort”, according to police guidance, but people can be prosecuted for offences and handed larger penalties if they refuse to pay.Cressida Dick confirms ‘Met is now investigating’ Downing Street partygate allegationsThe Independent understands that any punishments for people found to have broken the law with Downing Street and Whitehall parties will be governed by the law that was in place at the time.The default punishment during the alleged Number 10 garden gatherings in May 2020 was £100, but the government then increased penalties.During a string of reported Whitehall and Downing Street events in November 2020, England was in the grip of a national lockdown that forbade gatherings of two or more people inside unless an exemption applied.By then, the default fine for breaching the law had doubled to £200 and unprecedented £10,000 fines had been introduced for people responsible for organising large gatherings involving 30 or more attendees.Covid laws changed as different “tiers” came into force in December 2020, when a series of alleged Christmas celebrations took place, but the same fine scheme was in place and large social gatherings were banned.In April 2021, when two “boozy” leaving parties were reportedly held in Downing Street on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral, indoor celebrations remained illegal.Default fines were £200 for Covid offences, but a new £800 fine had been introduced for people attending parties of more than 15 people, and organisers of large gatherings could still be fined £10,000.Announcing the new £800 fine in January 2021, Priti Patel had told a press conference they were necessary because there remained a “small minority that refuse to do the right thing”.“To them my message is clear. If you don’t follow rules then the police will enforce them,” she added. More

Disgraced former Labour peer Nazir Ahmed should be stripped of his title after his conviction for the attempted rape of a girl and the sexual assault of a boy, according to a Conservative MP.Lord Ahmed of Rotherham was convicted on Wednesday of two counts of attempted rape and one of buggery.Sheffield Crown Court heard he carried out the attacks when he was 16 or 17 in the 1970s, but the girl was much younger.Alexander Stafford, the Rother Valley MP who has launched a petition calling on justice secretary Dominic Raab to withdraw the peerage, described the title as “an insult to his victims”.“There is no getting away from the fact that this paedophile is in possession of a peerage and this is absolutely and categorically unacceptable,” he said.He tweeted: “As I said in the Commons last year: ‘There is no individual crime more horrific than paedophilia and there is no punishment too severe for the perpetrators of these heinous acts’.”Ahmed, 64, was created a life peer in 199 bu resigned from the House of Lords in 2020 after an investigation recommended he be expelled.However, only an Act of Parliament with royal assent can strip him of his title.A former Labour councillor in Rotherham, he left the party in 2013.Mr Stafford, who has previously spoken out against child sexual exploitation, said: “The focus now needs to be on the victims of this sick abuser and their decades-long fight for justice.“I thank them sincerely and wholeheartedly for their bravery and persistence and I welcome this verdict.”He added: “I will be speaking to my colleagues in the Department of Justice to ensure that this individual is not allowed to continue to hold a peerage, which would be an insult to his victims.”During the trial, a woman told the jury that Ahmed tried to rape her.Ahmed, who was both a Labour and non-affiliated peer throughout his 22-year parliamentary career, denied all the charges.The judge, Mr Justice Lavender, bailed Ahmed to appear for sentencing on 4 February. More

People were prosecuted and fined up to £1,100 for illegal gatherings on the same day as Downing Street’s Christmas quiz last year, court documents show.Boris Johnson helped host the event, which took place virtually but allegedly saw quiz teams gather in person inside government offices.London was under tier 2 coronavirus restrictions at the time, meaning there could be no mixing of households indoors other than for work or another reason listed as a legal exemption.The Metropolitan Police has so far refused to investigate the quiz but other gatherings on the same date, 15 December 2020, resulted in fines and prosecutions.A 25-year-old woman was fined £1,100 at Westminster Magistrates’ Court earlier this month, after being found to have “participated in a gathering, which was indoors and consisted of two or more people, in the tier 2 area of London” that day.Prashanthi Bhupathiraju, of Woolwich, was not present to argue her case and had no defence lawyer, but a court document said an offence was found “proved” and the fine must be paid by 29 December. The hearing took place behind closed doors under the controversial single justice procedure, which sees cases decided by a single magistrate, advised by a professional lawyer, based on written evidence provided by the police. The same procedure was used to fine a 49-year-old man over an “indoor gathering” in Wembley on 15 December 2020. Abdulkadir Sharif Mohamed pleaded guilty and was handed a smaller penalty of £200 as a result.At least three women, all aged in their 20s, were fined £1,100 each after attending house parties on the same day as the 18 December 2020 Downing Street Christmas party.None of them had pleaded guilty, and the charges were again found proved at closed single justice procedure hearings at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.Cabinet secretary Simon Case has been tasked with investigating alleged gatherings or parties held in government buildings during restrictions, which include a leaving do on 27 November 2020 where the prime minister made a speech.Tory minister suggests Christmas quiz wasn’t party because there was ‘no alcohol’Several other people were prosecuted and fined £1,100 for parties in London during December last year, including a 44-year-old man caught at a gathering in Barking after the tier 4 restrictions were imposed, and a 20-year-old woman who went to a New Year’s Eve party in Croydon.The Independent has seen court records showing prosecutions and fines for gatherings last December across the country, including in Hampshire, Norfolk and parts of Wales. In single justice procedure cases, defendants are notified of the charge by post with a statement setting out the facts of the offence and guidance on what steps to take.They have the option to plead guilty or ask for a court hearing. If they plead guilty or do not respond within a 21-day time limit, their case will be dealt with through the single justice procedure.Cases processed under the controversial scheme are not covered by a Crown Prosecution Service review of coronavirus charges, which has found around a third to be unlawful so far.A letter delivered to the justice secretary earlier this year warned that hundreds or “likely thousands” of people have been convicted for coronavirus offences in their absence, or even without realising as a result. More

Police are contacting two people who attended a Christmas party at the Conservative Party headquarters over alleged breaches of coronavirus laws.The Metropolitan Police confirmed it was aware of the gathering at the building in Matthew Parker Street, Westminster, on 14 December last year.“Officers will be making contact with two people who attended in relation to alleged breaches of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) Regulations,” a spokesperson said. Police did not identify the two people being spoken to.Former London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey apologised “unreservedly” for attending the party after being shown in a photograph published by the Daily Mirror. It showed him posing alongside more than 20 other people wearing party hats or holding drinks, next to a buffet.A spokesperson for the Conservative Party previously said: “Senior CCHQ (Conservative Campaign Headquarters) staff became aware of an unauthorised social gathering in the basement of Matthew Parker Street organised by the Bailey campaign on the evening of 14 December.“Formal disciplinary action was taken against the four CCHQ staff who were seconded to the Bailey campaign.”Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green Party politicians on the London Assembly had written to commissioner Dame Cressida Dick demanding an investigation, saying the photo indicated “a clear breach of the regulations”.Scotland Yard said it was still not investigating an alleged Christmas Party at Downing Street on 18 December 2020, or other reported gatherings including a festive quiz on 15 December 202, leaving do and a Department for Education event.A spokesperson said police were in touch with the Cabinet Office over a probe being led by Simon Case into the gatherings, and “if any evidence emerges of behaviour that is potentially a criminal offence it will be passed to the Met for further consideration”.The force said it had received a “significant amount of material in relation to the allegations reported in the media”. Boris Johnson dodges calls to come clean on what he knew about No 10 Christmas parties“All the material has been considered by detectives in detail and it does not provide evidence of a breach of the Health Protection Regulations,” a spokesperson added.“In line with our policy where we do not normally investigate breaches of these regulations when they are reported long after they are said to have taken place, unless there is evidence from the Cabinet Office or other evidence comes to light, the Met will not at this time commence an investigation.”The Health Protection Regulations were used to enforce national lockdowns and other coronavirus restrictions at different stages in the pandemic.At the time of the alleged Downing Street and CCHQ events, London was under “tier 2” restrictions that banned indoor gatherings unless legal exemptions applied.The scandal grew on Thursday after a joint investigation by The Independent and The Guardian revealed that Boris Johnson allegedly joined Downing Street officials for a party during the first Covid-19 lockdown.The gathering took place on 15 May 2020, after the then health secretary Matt Hancock had delivered a televised press conference, noting that 384 coronavirus deaths had been recorded in the previous 24 hours.When questioned about the alleged parties during a Downing Street press conference on Wednesday, the prime minister said: “I follow the rules. Everybody across politics should follow the rules.” More

A man has been detained after trying to drive a car through the UK parliament’s gates, according to police. He has since been sectioned under the Mental Health Act, the Metropolitan Police said. The force said the incident happened at around midday on Tuesday, when a vehicle tried to enter Carriage Gates at the Palace of Westminster. It is not being treated as a terror incident, police said. “A male inside the vehicle was detained before being sectioned under the Mental Health Act,” a Met spokesperson said. “There was no damage to property and no injuries were sustained.”The spokesperson confirmed no taser was used in the incident. The car attempted to drive through the same gate where PC Keith Palmer was stabbed to death by terrorist attacker Khalid Masood while guarding parliament in 2017.The incident on Tuesday comes just days after the UK parliament faced a “major security breach” when a man jumped over a fence to access the estate. A Met spoksperson said this intruder was arrested at Carriage Gates “on suspicion of trespassing on a protected site”. The UK parliament has been approached for comment. More

Claudia Webbe MP has been handed a 10-week suspended sentence for harassing a female friend of her boyfriend. The 56-year-old, who sits as an independent MP after being suspended by Labour, was also given 200 hours’ of community service by Westminster Magistrates Court on Thursday. Webbe was convicted of harassment last month. The court heard she had made a string of threatening calls to Michelle Merritt, a friend of her partner, Lester Thomas, in the space of around a year and a half. In one of them, she threatened to throw acid over the 59-year-old and share naked images of her. Following the sentencing, Webbe said in a statement: “I am very disappointed by the decision of the magistrate and want to strongly reiterate that I am innocent.“I am lodging an appeal and despite today’s sentence I fully expect the appeal to be granted and that, ultimately, it will be successful.She added: “Throughout this process I have received numerous threats to my life and vile racist abuse. The cowards responsible for these attacks will not deter me from clearing my name.”In his ruling on Thursday, Paul Goldspring, the chief magistrate, said Webbe’s behaviour was “callous and intimidatory”. “You were jealous of the relationship between Lester Thomas and Michelle Merritt, and probably felt in some way threatened by it,” he said. Mr Goldspring said Webbe “showed little remorse or contrition” and would have been jailed immediately were it not for her previous good character.The outcome means the 56-year-old gets to automatically keep her seat in parliament. MPs who receive a jail sentence of a year and more lose their seat. But the sentence means Webbe will face a recall petition, which could trigger a by-election if at least 10 per cent of her constituents support it.The process must wait until the outcome of any appeal by Webbe against her conviction.As well as the suspended sentence and community service, the MP was ordered to pay £3,128 in costs and surchages. Her counsel, Paul Hynes QC, said his client was “in significant personal debt” predating her time as an MP and offered to pay the fine in £100 increments every 28 days.The chief magistrate said that was “not going to cut it” for someone on Webbe‘s salary and ordered it be paid within six months.Before the sentencing, the prosecution told the court Webbe’s offending was “persistent” and took place “over a prolonged period”.Susannah Stevens said her client, Ms Merritt, had to “make changes to her life” – including commuting by taxi – as she felt unsafe. The defendant also thought about moving house, the court was told.Meanwhile, Ms Merritt told the court: “I am so very proud I have had the strength to continue because no woman should be threatened or harassed the way she has to me over the years, least of all a politician.”Mr Goldspring said he found it “odd and concerning” that the probation service report said Webbe felt like a victim herself and counted several occassions when she referred to herself as “the victim” in the witness box during the trial. Webbe has been the MP for Leicester East since 2019, when she won the seat in the December general election. Additional reporting by Press Association More

A man has been charged and two others are under investigation over threats and abuse towards the deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner.Benjamin Iliffe, 36, of Chatteris in Cambridgeshire, has been charged with malicious communications and possession of cannabis as part of the ongoing probe.He was remanded into custody and will appear before Huntingdon Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.It was part of a Greater Manchester Police (GMP) investigation into “multiple reports of threatening and abusive phone calls, emails and letters” targeting Ms Rayner, the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne.A 52-year-old man, who has not been named, was arrested on Wednesday in Halifax over abusive phone calls received on 15 October – the day Sir David Amess was murdered.The man was arrested on suspicion of malicious communications and has been released on bail as enquiries continue.A third suspect, a 70-year-old man, was arrested on Thursday morning in South Yorkshire, on suspicion of malicious communications.Police said the man had been arrested over abusive emails received on 16 October, and he remains in custody for questioning.“Enquiries remain ongoing and GMP continues to work in partnership with Cambridgeshire Constabulary and South Yorkshire Police,” a spokesperson added.Police did not name the victim but Ms Rayner’s office confirmed that she was the target.A spokesperson said:“Angela and her staff have received a number of threatening, malicious and abusive communications in recent weeks. We are working with the police to ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice and Angela would like to thank the police for their work during these investigations.Sir David Amess: Two-minute silence held in Leigh-on-Sea after death of MP”Abuse and threats of this nature don’t just have an impact on Angela but also on her family, her children and her staff who are on the receiving end of these communications. “Angela is currently on bereavement leave after losing a close loved one and she looks forward to being back at work as soon as possible.”The arrest came amid calls for action over threats and abuse towards MPs following the murder of Sir David.The home secretary commissioned a security review that saw police contact all MPs to check sufficient arrangements were in place.Anyone with information is asked to call police via 101, visit the Greater Manchester Police website or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. More

A man has been arrested over threats towards the deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner.Greater Manchester Police said they had been investigating a “number of reports after a woman in Ashton-under-Lyne had been receiving multiple threatening and abusive phone calls, emails and letters over recent weeks”.A 52-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of malicious communications in Halifax on Wednesday.Greater Manchester Police said the arrest related to abusive phone calls received on 15 October, the day Sir David Amess was murdered.The suspect has been released on bail and enquiries are ongoing into other perpetrators.Police did not name the victim but Ms Rayner’s office confirmed that she was the target.A spokesperson said: “Angela and her staff have received a number of threatening, malicious and abusive communications in recent weeks. We are working with the police to ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice and Angela would like to thank the police for their work during these investigations.”Abuse and threats of this nature don’t just have an impact on Angela but also on her family, her children and her staff who are on the receiving end of these communications. “Angela is currently on bereavement leave after losing a close loved one and she looks forward to being back at work as soon as possible.”The arrest came amid calls for action over threats and abuse towards MPs following the murder of Sir David. The home secretary commissioned a security review that saw police contact all MPs to check sufficient arrangements were in place.Detective Sergeant Christopher Dean said: “Abusive, threatening or bullying behaviour towards anyone is completely unacceptable and we will always do what we can to ensure those responsible are identified and held accountable for their behaviour.”Although we have arrested one man our investigation very much remains ongoing and we will continue to pursue all available lines of enquiry to identify all those responsible.“Anyone with information is asked to call police via 101, visit the Greater Manchester Police website or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. More