Sarah Everard vigil organisers hail 'victory for women' as court rules Met Police acted unlawfully

Reclaim These Streets (RTS) proposed a socially-distanced vigil for the 33-year-old from York, who was murdered by former Met officer Wayne Couzens, near to where she went missing in Clapham, south London, in March last year.

The four women who founded RTS and planned the vigil brought a legal challenge against the force over its handling of the event, which was also intended to be a protest about violence against women.

They withdrew from organising the vigil after being told by the force they would face fines of £10,000 each and possible prosecution if the event went ahead, and a spontaneous vigil and protest took place instead.

Jessica Leigh, Anna Birley, Henna Shah and Jamie Klingler argued that decisions made by the force 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 on Friday, two senior judges upheld their claim, finding that the Met’s decisions in the run up to the event were “not in accordance with the law”.

In a summary of the ruling, Lord Justice Warby said: “The relevant decisions of the (Met) were to make statements at meetings, in letters, and in a press statement, to the effect that the Covid-19 regulations in force at the time meant that holding the vigil would be unlawful.

“Those statements interfered with the claimants’ rights because each had a ‘chilling effect’ and made at least some causal contribution to the decision to cancel the vigil.

“None of the (force’s) decisions was in accordance with the law; the evidence showed that the (force) failed to perform its legal duty to consider whether the claimants might have a reasonable excuse for holding the gathering, or to conduct the fact-specific proportionality assessment required in order to perform that duty.”

Lawyers representing the four told the court at a hearing in January that notes of a Met gold command meeting the day before the proposed event included a statement that “we are seen as the bad guys at the moment and we don’t want to aggravate this”.

Tom Hickman QC, representing the four, said in written arguments: “The most significant ‘threat’ identified was not public health but the perceived reputational risk to the (force), including in the event they were perceived to be permitting or facilitating the vigil.”

The Met defended the claim brought by Reclaim These Streets and argued there was no exception for protest in the coronavirus rules at the time, and that it had “no obligation” to assess the public health risk.

RTS took urgent legal action the day before the planned event, seeking a High Court declaration that any ban on outdoor gatherings under the coronavirus regulations at the time was “subject to the right to protest”.

But their request was refused and the court also refused to make a declaration that an alleged force policy of “prohibiting all protests, irrespective of the specific circumstances” was unlawful.

Couzens, 49, was given a whole life sentence, from which he will never be released, at the Old Bailey in September after admitting her murder.

The policing of the spontaneous vigil that took place drew criticism from across the political spectrum after women were handcuffed on the ground and led away by officers.

But a report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services concluded the police “acted appropriately” when dealing with the event, but also found it was a “public relations disaster” and described some statements made by members of the force as “tone deaf”.

In a statement outside the Royal Courts of Justice on behalf of the four women who organised the vigil, their solicitor Theodora Middleton said: “Today’s judgment is a victory for women.

“Last March, women’s voices were silenced. Today’s judgment conclusively shows that the police were wrong to silence us.

“The decisions and actions by the Met Police in the run-up to the planned vigil for Sarah Everard last year were unlawful and the judgment sets a powerful precedent for protest rights.

“We came together one year and one day ago to organise a vigil on Clapham Common because Sarah Everard went missing from our neighbourhood. We felt sad and afraid.

“We were angry that women still weren’t safe and we were tired of the burden to stay safe always weighing on our shoulders.”

Reacting to the ruling outside court, Reclaim These Streets co-founder Jamie Klingler said it represented “absolute vindication”.

The 43-year-old from Camden, north London, told the PA news agency: “We’ve had the same story from the Thursday that Scotland Yard tried to silence us and silencing women is never a good idea.”

Asked why the case was brought against the Metropolitan Police, she added: “The police should have facilitated our reasonable excuse to protest and that’s exactly what we’ve been saying since the Thursday that we tried.

“The whole way, they’ve been making up different things and saying we can’t do it. It was a blanket ban on protest that they weren’t allowed to do.

“Every step of the way there was just condescension and disrespect and they were telling us their hands were tied.”

Asked how differently the spontaneous Sarah Everard vigil that took place would have been, Ms Klingler said: “We would have had 50 stewards, they would have been communicating with the police, it would have been a quiet moment of silence and then we would have gone home.

“By doing what they did and by trying to silence us and by forcing us into court, forcing us to raise money and giving it so much more publicity, they got it bigger and bigger and bigger, and then they lit a match.

“This is all down to the police, they should not have wasted the money in court with us and they should have spent that money on violence against women and girls.”

She added: “We hope that the new commissioner is a visionary who really prioritises getting rid of the systemic racism, sexism and homophobia in the force.”

Following the judgment, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe said: “I remain deeply saddened by the murder of Sarah Everard and utterly disgusted that it was a serving Met officer who took her life.

“That sadness is shared by colleagues across the Met.

“We know the impact this terrible crime has had on our communities and recognise that the vigil on Clapham Common on March 13 2021, organised to remember Sarah, was intended to give people the opportunity to express themselves.

“We know how strongly people felt in wanting to come together and have their voices heard.”

She continued: “The Met worked very hard in challenging circumstances to interpret and apply the regulations lawfully and proportionately, despite numerous changes during the pandemic.”