The Metropolitan Police is prosecuting four people for allegedly breaking Covid lockdown rules at the vigil for murdered marketing executive Sarah Everard.
Several hundred people gathered at the bandstand on Clapham Common on March 13, 2021, after Ms Everard was kidnapped, raped, and murdered by serving Met PC Wayne Couzens.
An official vigil – organised by the Reclaim These Streets group – was blocked by police after organisers were threatened with £10,000 fines under the Covid restrictions on gatherings.
However a spontaneous event, attended by the Duchess of Cambridge, sprung up in its place and ended with ugly scenes of women being pinned to the ground and arrested.
Now, prosecutions are being brought against four people who allegedly breaching the Covid rules by being present at the vigil that evening.
Dania Al-Obeid, 27, from Stratford, east London, Vivien Hohmann, 20, of Clapham, Ben Wheeler, 21, from Kennington, and Manchester resident Kevin Godin-Prior, 68, all face a charge of participating in a gathering of more than two people in a public outdoor place when London was under Tier 4 restrictions.
According to charges before Westminster magistrates court, it is said on March 13, 2021 at Clapham Common bandstand they were part of an unlawful gathering “without reasonable excuse”.
News of the charges is likely to reignite fury over the Met’s handling of the aftermath of Ms Everard’s murder.
In March this year, the High Court ruled that the force breached the rights of freedom of speech and assembly by blocking the Reclaim These Streets-organised vigil.
Judges found the Met had "failed to perform its legal duty to consider whether (organisers) might have a reasonable excuse for holding the gathering".
Ms Everard’s disappearance and murder sparked anger across the country and led to a series of events being planned to protest about the safety of women.
However the Met – faced with the planned gathering on Clapham Common at one of the last spots where Ms Everard had been seen alive – made a series of statements that an event would be unlawful and organisers would be at risk of hefty fines under Covid laws.
The High Court found the statements interfered with the organisers’ human rights and “had a chilling effect”, leading to the cancellation of the official vigil where measures including social distancing and safety marshals had been planned.
The spontaneous vigil that sprung up in its place ended with police officers forming a ring around the bandstand, a hostile atmosphere between protestors and officers, and ended in a series of arrests.
Speaking shortly after the vigil, Ms Al-Obeid said she attended to “make a stand against men and against the violence women in this country face.”
“I thought it was only appropriate to join these women at that point”, she said. “When we were on the bandstand, it was swarmed by police.” She feared being dragged to the floor and injured as she was led away by police, she said, adding: “You’d think that we were doing something terribly, terribly wrong.”
A police watchdog found the Met “acted appropriately” while policing the vigil, and the force tried and failed to appeal against its defeat in the High Court.
But the incident remains highly controversial, and was cited by critics as one of the reasons for the departure of former Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick.
The prosecutions of the four people are due to be dealt with behind-closed-doors at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday, in the Single Justice Procedure.
The court has not yet released further details of the allegations against them, and pleas have not yet been formally entered.
Couzens is serving a whole life prison sentence for the murder of Ms Everard, but has mounted an appeal against the decision that he could never apply for parole.
