Fresh blow to the Met as Sarah vigil charges axed

Scotland Yard faced humiliation yesterday after the crown Prosecution Service axed cases linked to the Sarah Everard vigil.

the Metropolitan Police was previously caught up in the backlash over the secret prosecution of mourners for breaking covid laws by attending the vigil for the murdered marketing executive.

now the force faces further legal action over its handling of the event. It is thought to have spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ money to defend its policing of the vigil in a case that went to the court of appeal, which it lost.

Hundreds of people including the duchess of cambridge attended the gathering at clapham common, south london, after the kidnap, rape and murder of Miss Everard, 33, by Scotland Yard officer Wayne couzens last year.

the Met fined nine people for breaching covid rules, but seven failed to pay the £200 fine.

the CPS decided to take six of these to court for failing to pay.

But yesterday it said they ‘no longer passed the legal test’ of whether it is in the public interest to bring the case to court. In June the court of appeal agreed police misinterpreted covid laws when they tried to block the vigil and failed to consider human rights of freedom of speech and assembly. despite losing the case, the force decided to fine attendees individually for breaching covid rules.

those that refused to pay were dealt with under the single justice procedure in which magistrates consider their case on paper without parties having to attend court. But yesterday the CPS announced all cases had been discontinued.

Some attendees are now launching civil claims over their treatment and the policing of the vigil.

dania al-obeid, 28, one of the six, said she had not been given the chance to plead not guilty because of the single justice procedure. Yesterday she said: ‘this is a victory but it doesn’t hold the Met accountable for their actions at the vigil or for their decisions to criminalise me...’

She told the observer: ‘to be convicted for standing up for my human rights, and our rights just to be safe from violence, felt extremely unjust.’ She is now raising money for action against the Met with Jeni Edmunds, 32, whose case was also dropped.

Pippa Woodrow of doughty Street chambers, representing both women, said: ‘the CPS has recognised they should never have been prosecuted. the police’s attempts to criminalise them have been absurd and damaging.’

Separately, the Met faces a legal claim from Patsy Stevenson, who was handcuffed by male officers at the vigil. Yesterday Met assistant commissioner louisa Rolfe said: ‘officers took very seriously their duty to safeguard the public during the pandemic and to balance this with the rights of individuals.’

a CPS spokesman said: ‘We have a duty to keep cases under continuous review and we concluded that our legal test for a prosecution was not met.’

‘Absurd and damaging’