The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told lawyers last week that it had “discontinued” police efforts to criminalize six protesters as it was not in the public interest. The result is a major victory for women who have described the Met’s determination to target those attending the vigil as “senseless and damaging”. The decision is also an embarrassing first blow for its new commissioner, Mark Rowley, whose force remains keen to prosecute women who complain about Everard’s abduction, rape and murder at the hands of a serving Met officer. Abuse survivor Dania Al-Obeid, who was handcuffed and arrested at the vigil on 13 March 2021 and was one of those targeted by the Met, said: “This is a victory in itself, but she does not hold the Met responsible for the actions at the vigil or their decisions to criminalize me and others for standing up and speaking out more than a year later.” Last night Al-Obeid officially informed the Met that she would now take legal action against the force over its policing of the vigil and its behavior towards her. Another of those targeted, Jeni Edmunds, said: “I’m glad the Met has had to give it up. That the police used the same power they abused to force Sarah Everard into her murder to arrest mourners at her vigil speaks volumes.” Edmunds added: “I’m so exhausted by what’s been going on for so long, but I’m lucky to be in a position where I can defend myself. I know that where power is given, there is the potential for abuse.” Their barrister, Pippa Woodrow of Doughty Street Chambers, said: “I am delighted for Dania and Jeni that this ordeal is over and that the CPS has recognized that they should never have been prosecuted. Police efforts to criminalize them were senseless and harmful. “Let’s hope the Met will now turn their focus and resources towards protecting women from violence rather than seeking to silence those who speak out against it and towards rebuilding the trust destroyed by their decisions in this case.” The six were accused of breaching Covid quarantine rules by being on duty. Some had previously been sentenced behind closed doors under the Single Justice Procedure (SJP), including Al-Obeid, who was unaware she had a criminal record until contacted by the media. After arguing that she had not been given a chance to plead not guilty, she, along with others, was due to go on trial later this year to try to overturn the convictions. Everard was abducted by Wayne Couzens on her way home in south London, with the officer pretending to be enforcing Covid rules to get her into his car. Couzens – who is now serving a life sentence – drove the 33-year-old from London, where she was raped and murdered. A new campaign group, Reclaim These Streets, organized a vigil for Everard but was forced to cancel it after the Met said they would each face £10,000 fines and possible prosecution if he went ahead. Instead, an impromptu vigil took place on Clapham Common which attracted hundreds, but the force’s decision to disperse the crowd, arresting protesters and trampling on flowers they had laid caused widespread outrage. Edmunds added: “As a survivor of sexual violence like so many, every woman, every person, has the right to make it a safe home at night. The police didn’t keep Sarah safe and they didn’t keep us safe [at the vigil] either that night. The police were called for their actions, but nothing changes.” The details of the case and the police’s apparent willingness to prosecute have raised serious questions, lawyers say. More than a year after the vigil, the high court ruled that Scotland Yard had misinterpreted Covid laws when it tried to block the event and also failed to take into account the human rights of freedom of speech and assembly. Despite this decision, the Met proceeded to convict the six, in Al-Obeid’s case more than 15 months after the vigil. “It became clear at that point – if not before – that the police simply did not understand the importance in English law of people’s basic right to freedom of speech and assembly: to protest,” Woodrow said. He added that the case raised serious questions about the Met’s use of powers that allowed it to prosecute people by a single judge and without any oversight. Marketing director Al-Obeid said: “I was shocked when I found out. Being condemned behind closed doors for standing up for my human rights and our rights just to be safe from violence felt extremely unfair. I didn’t feel like I could fight it – I felt like I was shrinking and taking up less space. I began to blame myself for ever speaking up. It brought back some of the terrible experiences in my past and took me to a dark place where I didn’t think my voice mattered or that I even had the right to speak.” Woodrow described the process as a “stamping exercise” and worried that the controversial SJP had been extended and may have unknowingly criminalized thousands of potentially innocent people. Edmunds, who works for legal charity Inquest, said she was motivated to attend the vigil by the Met officers’ treatment of murdered sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman and the case of Sarah Reed, who took her own life after being attacked by the police and then imprisoned. for self-defense against sexual assault. After the CPS intervened, Al-Obeid announced she would take legal action against the Met and take the £6,000 she has raised in a week from covering her trial costs to sue the force for on-call policing. “The outpouring of support so far has been incredible,” he said. It follows the launch of similar legal action and a crowdfunding campaign by Patsy Stevenson, who was pictured handcuffed and held by two male officers at the vigil. Stevenson said: “The Met fully believe they are right – or they know they are wrong and are trying to push and push.” The civil claims against the Met by Al-Obeid and Stevenson are brought by Rachel Harger of Bindmans, who said: “It is no small feat to undertake legal proceedings for a well-resourced, publicly funded institution which is also strongly supported politically by the government of the day and I sincerely hope that the public will come together and support Patsy, Dania and all those who were subjected to such appalling police behavior at the vigil as they try to hold the police to account.” The Met has been contacted for comment.
