The metropolitan police have been denied permission to appeal a second time against a high court ruling that the force violated the rights of the organizers of a Sarah Everard vigil with its management of the ‘planned event.
Reclaim These Streets (RTS) proposed a socially distant vigil for the 33-year-old, who was killed by former Met officer Wayne Couzens, near where she disappeared in Clapham, south London, in March. from last year.
The four women who founded RTS and planned the vigil filed a legal challenge against the force for its handling of the act, which was also intended to be a protest against violence against women.
They withdrew from organizing the vigil after the force told them they would face fines of £ 10,000 each and possible prosecution if the event progressed, and instead a spontaneous vigil and protest was held. .
Jessica Leigh, Anna Birley, Henna Shah and Jamie Klingler argued that decisions made by force before the planned vigil were a violation of their human rights to freedom of expression and assembly, and that force did not work. assess the potential risk to public health.
In a March ruling, Lord Justice Warby and Holgate upheld their claim, finding that the Met’s decisions in the run-up to the event “were not in accordance with the law”.
After considering a paperless application by the Met to challenge the sentence in the appellate court, the judges denied the force permit to file an appeal in April.
The Met then continued with an appeal asking the appellate court to grant him permission, but that was rejected in writing on Tuesday.
Dismissing the appeal, Judge Holroyde said in a court order that while acknowledging the application of the principles guiding the right to protest, “it can be difficult for the police and the difficulty can increase when considers it a potential event, “they said. “clear” and no separate guide was needed.
The judge said he did not see “any questionable basis on which to claim that the [high] the court’s decision was wrong. “
He added: “The court’s assessment of the evidence did not involve any error of principle or an unsustainable finding … an appeal, therefore, has no real prospect of success and there is no another substantial reason why an appeal should be heard.
“Permission to appeal must therefore be denied.”
The decision means that the force will not be able to challenge the ruling of the high court even further.
RTS said on Twitter that they were “excited to announce” the court’s decision after receiving the order, while Klingler tweeted: “It’s finally over. Claim.”
A Met police spokesman said in a statement: “We are aware of the appellate court’s decision. We will look into it carefully and comment further in due course.”
In a summary of the Supreme Court ruling, Lord Justice Warby said: “The relevant decisions of the [Met] they had to make statements in meetings, in letters and in a press release, in the sense that the Covid regulations in force at the time meant that the celebration of the vigil would be illegal.
“These statements interfered with the plaintiffs’ rights because they each had a ‘creepy effect’ and made at least one causal contribution to the decision to cancel the vigil.
“None of the [force’s] the decisions were in accordance with the law; tests showed that the [force] it did not fulfill its legal duty to consider whether the plaintiffs could have a reasonable excuse to hold the meeting, or to carry out the assessment of the specific proportionality of the facts required to fulfill that duty. “
RTS took urgent legal action the day before the scheduled event, requesting a statement from the high court that any ban on outdoor meetings under coronavirus regulations at the time was “subject to the right to protest.” “.
But his request was rejected and the court also refused to declare that an alleged force policy of “banning all protests, regardless of specific circumstances” was illegal.
Couzens, 49, was sentenced to life in prison, from which he will never be released, at Old Bailey in September after admitting to killing Everard.
The police of the spontaneous vigil that took place generated criticism from across the political spectrum after women were handcuffed to the ground and taken away by officers.
A report from Her Majesty’s Police and Fire and Rescue Inspection Inspectorate concluded that the police “acted correctly” in dealing with the incident, but also found that it was a “public relations disaster”. “and described some statements by members of the force as” a tone “. deaf ”.