LONDON: London’s Metropolitan Police has apologised and paid “substantial” compensation to two women arrested at a March 2021 vigil for Sarah Everard who was kidnapped, raped and murdered by a serving police officer, their lawyers said Thursday.
Hundreds of people, mostly women, attended the vigil for Everard in south London near where the 33-year-old marketing executive went missing.
Police officers scuffled with some members of the crowd towards the end of the vigil, held despite coronavirus restrictions, with the sight of male officers restraining and handcuffing female demonstrators drawing widespread criticism.
Patsy Stevenson and Dania Al-Obeid, who were both detained at the event and took legal action, had reached a settlement with the Met Police, Bindmans, the law firm representing them, said.
Bindmans said the Metropolitan Police issued an apology and paid “substantial” damages.
“It has taken over two years to reach this conclusion,“ Stevenson said in a statement.
“It’s been a really tiring and difficult process but it has felt important to push for some form of accountability and justice for myself and all women who attended the vigil to express our anger and grief over the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Metropolitan Police officer,“ she added.
The Met Police said in a statement the vigil took place in “extraordinary circumstances”, adding that police officers were “interpreting complex and changing legislation” related to the pandemic.
“A protracted legal dispute is not in the interests of any party, least of all the complainants who we recognise have already experienced significant distress as a result of this incident,“ the Met Police said.
London police officer Wayne Couzens was in September 2021 jailed for the rest of his life after falsely arresting Everard on the pretence she had broken coronavirus restrictions, before raping and murdering her.
The campaign group Reclaim These Streets (RTS) had initially wanted to organise a socially distanced vigil for Everard in March 2021 but police banned it arguing it would breach coronavirus restrictions then in force. - AFP
