Prosecutors consider charging five people

THE METROPOLITAN POLICE have passed five cases of alleged Labour antisemitism to prosecutors, Commissioner Cressida Dick has revealed.

The accused, who are no longer in the party, include two men in their 50s and a woman in her 70s. The three were arrested in March last year.

The others are a man in his 40s, who was arrested in May, and a man in his 60s who was interviewed under caution in July.

They all face accusations of “publishing or distributing material likely to stir up racial hatred”.

Ms Dick revealed the news on Wednesday morning while appearing on LBC, which had first reported on the dossier of people accused of antisemitism while they were party members. The party had failed to act.

“I think actually we’ve now arrested six people, and that was earlier in [2019]. We’ve submitted five files to the CPS in September… of last year,” she said.

She did not reveal which cases the files related to but the dossier included four that former Met commander Mak Chisty has said constituted hate crimes.

One of them was a post saying: “We shall rid the Jews who are a cancer on us all.”

Another referred to “a Zionist extremist MP… who hates civilised people, about to get a good kicking”.

The Met confirmed enquiries were ongoing into a sixth person, a man in his 60s who was interviewed under caution in July.

LBC’s dossier was handed to Ms Dick live on air when she appeared on the station in September 2018.

Asked by Nick Ferrari about the timescale in which the Crown Prosecution Service would decide whether or not to charge the individuals, Ms Dick responded: “It’s a very complex crime type, to be honest.

“So there is a lot for them to look at and a lot for them to consider, as to whether there is either sufficient evidence to charge and whether it is in the public interest so to do.

“They’ve got the files and we look forward to hearing what they say about them.”

The recent antisemitic grafitti in Belsize Park and Hampstead was also brought up during the interview. Ms Dick said it was a “horrible event”, adding: “I know has really shaken people in the local area and in the wider Jewish community.”

It’s a very complex crime type, to be honest’