Category Archives: Metropolitan police

Met police agree six-figure payout to man hit by baton at protest

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Exclusive: Alfie Meadows underwent brain surgery after being struck by officer at tuition fees demonstration

The Metropolitan police have apologised and agreed to pay a six-figure settlement to a man who needed emergency brain surgery after being hit by an officer’s baton during the 2010 university tuition fees protests.

Alfie Meadows, then a 20-year-old philosophy student at Middlesex University, sustained a brain injury after he was struck on the head during demonstrations against the tripling of tuition fees. He needed more than 100 staples in his head and was left with a large scar.

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Arrested at Sarah Everard’s vigil: how Patsy Stevenson’s life changed for ever

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The 30-year-old, now awarded damages by the Met police, talks about how a photo made her a target for hate and how she hopes to move on

There is one thing that Patsy Stevenson can’t stand when people see the image of her being pinned down on the ground by police on the night of the Sarah Everard vigil: them saying that she looked good.

“Some people were like, ‘Oh, you look so great’, or ‘Your hair looks amazing in that picture’,” she says, after learning that the Metropolitan police have settled the claim that she and Dania al-Obeid, who was also at the vigil, brought against them. “But that was a really traumatic event for me and I don’t think people always take into consideration that I’m not a picture, I’m a person.”

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Met police pays damages to women arrested at Sarah Everard vigil

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Apology and ‘substantial’ payouts to Patsy Stevenson and Dania al-Obeid mark major climbdown after years of legal battles

Scotland Yard has apologised and paid “substantial damages” to two women arrested during the vigil for Sarah Everard, in a major climbdown following years of legal battles over the policing of the event.

In a move that the new Metropolitan police commissioner, Mark Rowley, will hope draws a line under one of the darkest periods of the Met’s recent history, the force acknowledged that it was “understandable” that Patsy Stevenson and Dania Al-Obeid had wanted to attend a candlelit vigil at Clapham Common because they felt women had been “badly let down”.

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Police renew calls for help to identify body found in Thames in 2013

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Body of black man aged between 40 and 50 with beard and moustache was recovered near Bankside Pier

Police have renewed calls for information on a body found 10 years ago that is yet to be formally identified.

Metropolitan police were called to Bankside Pier in Southwark on 26 August 2013 after reports a member of the public had seen a man’s body in the River Thames.

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Former Met police officer jailed for rape of female colleague and 16-year-old girl

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Judge says force protected Adam Provan by ignoring officer’s complaints, allowing him to attack teenager

The Metropolitan police protected a predatory rapist within their ranks, dismissing the complaints of one of his victims and leaving him free to attack a teenager, a judge has said.

Adam Provan, 44, was on Tuesday jailed for 16 years, followed by eight years on licence, for eight counts of raping two victims between 2003 and 2010.

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Khan tells people to shun ‘nonsense’ TikTok craze on Oxford Street

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Metropolitan police sending extra officers to central London street after speculation of ‘crime opportunities’

Sadiq Khan has encouraged people not to travel to Oxford Street to take part in a social media craze that he has described as “nonsense”.

The Metropolitan police has said there will be a heightened police presence in the central London area after speculation about an event on Wednesday afternoon advertised on TikTok.

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Operation Midland: ‘reasonable grounds’ to investigate two witnesses, police say

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Pair accused of lying during investigation into claims of VIP paedophile ring made by fantasist Carl Beech

There are “reasonable grounds” to suspect two people perverted the course of justice by allegedly making false abuse claims against a string of high-profile figures, a police force has said.

The pair, known only as witnesses A and B, are accused of lying during Operation Midland, launched in 2014 off the back of lurid and false allegations made by fantasist Carl Beech, who was later jailed for 18 years.

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Arrest of French publisher in London referred to police watchdog

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Report says detention of Ernest Moret was wrong after he was held for almost 24 hours by counter-terrorist police

The arrest in London of a radical French publisher under counter-terrorist powers has been referred to the police watchdog after the reviewer of terrorism legislation found that it was wrong.

Ernest Moret, 28, was held for almost 24 hours by counter-terrorist police and asked about his opinion of Emmanuel Macron and participation in anti-Macron protests after he arrived at St Pancras station in April for a book fair.

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Jeremy Corbyn says Labour MPs are ‘seething with anger’ about Keir Starmer’s stance on the two-child benefit cap – UK politics live

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Former Labour leader says ‘even the Blair government’ helped lift children out of poverty

Labour MPs are “seething with anger” about Keir Starmer’s decision to say the party would not get rid of the two-child benefit cap, Jeremy Corbyn said this morning.

Corbyn, Starmer’s predecessor as leader, told LBC that he had spoken to “quite a lot of Labour MPs” about this issue. He went on:

They are seething with anger, particularly as commitments have been made regularly by the party that we would take children out of poverty. Even the Blair government, which Keir Starmer often quotes, did do a great deal to lift children out of poverty by not having a two-child policy …

Even in areas like mine, there are high levels of child poverty – probably 40% of the children in my constituency. All across the north-east, which Jamie [Driscoll] represents – a third of all children across the whole of the region are living in poverty. That has got to go and got to change.

This is not a shock – it is what I and my team expected.

None of my fellow Bernie Grant leadership programme alumni have been selected.

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Key Madeleine McCann witness says Met police ignored tipoff for nine years

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German man says he first contacted Scotland Yard about suspect Christian Brückner in 2008

The man who tipped off police about Christian Brückner, the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, has said his initial approach to the Metropolitan police in the year after she disappeared was ignored and he was only taken seriously when he contacted them again nine years later.

The German man, identified only as Helge B, said he had approached Scotland Yard in 2008, suspecting Brückner’s involvement in the child’s abduction, but he heard nothing back from them. Publicity around the 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance in 2017 prompted him to contact them again, after which they acted on his information, he said.

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Met police admit downloading sim of French publisher, lawyer claims

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Ernest Moret had devices seized after arrest by counter-terrorism police on arrival in London in April

The Metropolitan police have admitted downloading the sim card from the phone of a radical French publisher who was arrested by counter-terrorism police at St Pancras station in April, his lawyer has claimed.

Officers returned the iPhone and laptop it had seized from Ernest Moret, 28, to his London lawyer on Tuesday after the Met announced late on Friday that no further action would be taken against him. He had been arrested on his way to the London book fair and held for almost 24 hours under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

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Stephen Lawrence inquiry should have received more from Met, IOPC found

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Watchdog identified further details that ‘could and should’ have been handed over to Macpherson inquiry

An official investigation has concluded that Scotland Yard had information that “could and should” have been handed to the inquiry into Stephen Lawrence’s murder but failed to disclose it, the Guardian has learned.

The unpublished findings from the police watchdog are a potential fresh embarrassment to the Met and emerged after a sixth suspect in the 1993 killing of the black teenager was identified, leading to calls from Lawrence’s father and best friend to reopen the investigation.

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Man guilty of murdering police custody sergeant in south London

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Jury finds Louis De Zoysa shot Matt Ratana in Croydon with revolver he probably hid under armpit

A man has been found guilty of murdering a police custody sergeant with a gun he had smuggled into a cell.

A jury at Northampton crown court convicted Louis De Zoysa, 25, of murdering Sgt Matt Ratana, 54, with a gunshot to the chest at a custody block in Croydon, south London, in September 2020.

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French publisher arrested on suspicion of terror offences ‘to face no further action’

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The man was taken into custody in London after failing to provide the pin to his phone when asked to by officers

No further action will be taken against a French publisher who was arrested after being stopped at St Pancras station on suspicion of terror offences, the Metropolitan police have said.

The 28-year-old man, who was previously named by his employer as Ernest Moret, was stopped by border officers as he arrived at the north London station at about 7.30pm on 17 April.

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Threatened Saudi dissident told to live like Edward Snowden by Met police

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Col Rabih Alenezi received advice after reporting death threats, of which he says he receives 50 a week

A Saudi Arabian dissident living in London was told to “emulate” the life of the US whistleblower Edward Snowden by a Metropolitan police officer, amid death threats he received after fleeing his country.

Col Rabih Alenezi, 44, had been a senior official in Saudi Arabia’s security service for two decades, but sought asylum in the UK after he claimed to have been ordered to carry out human rights violations. His life was threatened for criticising the regime of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

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Met police dealing with at least one dangerous dog a day, figures show

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MPs call for new laws as data shows rise in number of dog seizures is not matched by action against owners

The Metropolitan police are dealing with at least one dangerous dog every day, figures show, as MPs call for ministers to introduce new laws to stop vicious dog attacks.

Police data shows the force seized 479 out-of-control dogs last year under the Dangerous Dogs Act – up from 333 in 2021 and 336 in 2019. As of the start of May this year the Met police had already seized 154 dogs.

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Met plan to stop mental health response will leave thousands ‘without support’

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Health groups raise alarm after Sir Mark Rowley says he will order officers not to attend 999 calls about mental health incidents

Thousands of people in a mental health crisis will be “left without support” under worrying and inappropriate police plans to “walk away” from emergency incidents, health chiefs have said.

In a letter seen by the Guardian, the Metropolitan police comissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, said that from September he would order the force’s police officers not to attend thousands of 999 calls about mental health incidents.

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Met police to stop attending emergency mental health calls

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Exclusive: move will come into force on 31 August and will only be waived if a threat to life is feared

The Metropolitan police will no longer attend emergency calls related to mental health incidents, the force’s commissioner has said.

In a letter seen by the Guardian, Sir Mark Rowley says he will order his officers not to attend thousands of calls they get every year to deal with mental health incidents.

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Head of Met police VIP paedophile ring inquiry faces investigation

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Steve Rodhouse, who led Operation Midland, may have breached professional standards, says police watchdog

One of Britain’s most senior police officers should face a gross misconduct charge over his role in Operation Midland, the disastrous investigation into claims of a VIP paedophile ring, the police watchdog has concluded.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct had previously cleared Steve Rodhouse of wrongdoing for overseeing the Metropolitan police’s operation, which saw the force raid homes of high-profile figures having fallen for the lies of the fantasist Carl Beech.

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Former Met PC says she made mistakes on Wayne Couzens flashing case

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Samantha Lee tells hearing she could not have prevented kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard

The former Met police officer accused of botching the Wayne Couzens flashing case has admitted she made some mistakes, but said nothing she could have done would have changed the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard.

Samantha Lee has been accused of conducting an “extremely poor” investigation after Couzens, 50, exposed himself to female staff at a drive-through McDonald’s in Kent on 14 and 27 February 2021, a police disciplinary hearing was told.

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