Three people have been fined after attending a vigil for Sarah Everard – and are being told to pay up more than the prime minister did for his breach of the rules.
Hundreds gathered on Clapham Common to pay tribute to the murdered 33-year-old, who was abducted not far from the south London park, last March.
The event resulted in widespread criticism of the Metropolitan Police, with images of women being handcuffed causing shock.
A socially distanced gathering initially proposed by Reclaim These Streets was cancelled after its organisers were threatened with £10,000 fines.
But thousands attended anyway, transforming the bandstands into a memorial.
Now three people who attended the unofficial vigil, which had been visited earlier in the day by the Duchess of Cambridge, have been fined for breaking Covid-19 rules.
Each was fined £220 and ordered to pay £100 in court costs and a £34 victim surcharge, with 28 days to pay, the court said on Thursday.
The fine – which was issued by a court after a Met prosecution rather than from the force directly – is well above what Boris Johnson received for attending his own birthday party in Downing Street.
The PM received a fixed penalty notice of £50 after a lengthy investigation.
Dania Al-Obeid, 27, from Stratford, east London, is among those fined for attending the vigil.
She said: ‘This isn’t about the £200, I’ve had people come forward and offer to pay this. It’s about what this fine represents.
‘I’ve requested any updates regarding the fine to be made via email as I’m not in the country; however the first I hear of this charge is via the media.
‘It’s been dealt with so poorly from start to finish and I’m just expected to roll over and accept this treatment. I’m considering fighting this as it’s simply not fair.’
Also fined were Ben Wheeler, 21, from Kennington, south London, and Kevin Godin-Prior, 68, from Manchester, who were all convicted in their absence in a behind-closed-doors hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday.
They were all accused of participating in a gathering at Clapham Common Bandstand on March 13, 2021, of more than two people in a public outdoor place when London was under Tier 4 restrictions.
A case management hearing has been scheduled for Vivien Hohmann, 20, from Clapham, later this month, while Jade Spence, 33, of Lambeth, south London, and Jenny Edmunds, 32, of Lewisham, south-east London, are due to be dealt with next Wednesday.
A report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services concluded that police ‘acted appropriately’ when dealing with the event.
But it also concluded it was a ‘public relations’ disaster and described some statements made by members of the force as ‘tone deaf’.
Last Tuesday, the Met were refused permission to appeal for a second time against a High Court ruling which concluded that the force breached the rights of the vigil’s original organisers.
Jessica Leigh, Anna Birley, Henna Shah and Jamie Klingler argued that decisions made in advance of the planned vigil amounted to a breach of their human rights to freedom of speech and assembly, and said the force did not assess the potential risk to public health.
In a ruling in March, their claim was upheld by Lord Justice Warby and Mr Justice Holgate, who found that the Met’s decisions in the run-up to the event were ‘not in accordance with the law’.
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