CPS sorry for error in report on MP’s court case
THE Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has apologised to MP Claudia Webbe after failing to correct reports she had threatened to throw acid over her partner’s lover.
The Leicester East MP was convicted of harassing Michelle Merritt in 2021.
She later lost an appeal against the conviction, the Court of Appeal finding that a string of silent phone calls and threats to reveal naked pictures of Ms Merritt had been “a course of conduct which amounted to harassment”.
However, Judge Deborah Taylor found Ms Webbe had not “made a threat to throw acid over” Ms Merritt.
Despite this finding, the CPS failed to update its news release relating to the trial.
An independent assessor of complaints said Ms Webbe had to write to the CPS three times to get the record amended.
In a letter seen by the Mercury, assessor Moi Ali said the CPS should have spoken to the counsel for the trial after the second complaint from Ms Webbe.
“If it had, it would have discovered the court “explicitly found it was sure (Ms Webbe) did not make a threat to throw acid”, Ms Ali said.
That Ms Webbe had to write three times to get the record corrected was deemed “not acceptable”, particularly as she was clear she was “being seriously adversely impacted”.
Ms Webbe said she had received threats and abuse because of the claim which were impacting on her health.
Given the murders of MPs Sir David Amess and Jo Cox in recent years, this should have been taken seriously by the CPS and checks made at an earlier stage, Ms Ali ruled.
The CPS said it has apologised to Ms Webbe for not properly correcting the record and had agreed to make a “goodwill payment” of £100. It said it had made a “genuine error”.
Ms Webbe said the amount was “derisory” and “astonishing”.
She said: “The actions of the CPS have contributed to me receiving constant death threats, silent calls, vile online social media abuse.
“I have been told that I am the MP that has received the most such threats and abuse and particularly online.
“No amount of compensation can address what I have been through, but the offer of just £100 when the IAC acknowledged the seriousness of the suffering this caused me is derisory and the explanation by the CPS that its choice of wording was ‘in good faith’ is astonishing.”
“I believe this was done to cause me maximum hurt and harm and, as I told the IAC, has inflicted on me perpetual anxiety, stress and poor health.
“I believe the actions of the CPS were political, because I am on the left, and were motivated by racism and sexism.”
Ms Ali ruled there was “no evidence” of racism or sexism.
Instead, it was a result of “poor written record and a failing during the complaint process to check with its author”, she said.
The CPS said: “We have apologised to Claudia Webbe MP for information in a press release which was not properly corrected and agreed to make a goodwill payment of £100.”