Met Police: Four charged for attending Sarah Everard Clapham Common vigil

Four people have been charged with allegedly breaking the coronavirus lockdown rules for attending a vigil on Clapham Common in memory of murdered Sarah Everard.

Ms Everard, 33, was abducted, raped and murdered by armed serving Met officer Wayne Couzens, in March 2021, in a case which shocked the nation.

He is now serving a whole life sentence for her killing, and appealing against the ruling that he never be allowed to apply for parole.

Campaigners from Reclaim These Streets (RTS) attempted to organise a vigil which was abandoned after organisers were told they could face fines of up to £10,000.

On Saturday, March 13, women, including the Duchess of Cambridge, gathered anyway and scenes of police restraining and arresting mourners at the bandstand sparked outcry.

Now the Met has charged four people with allegedly breaking Covid rules for attending the gathering, which took place at a time when London was in Tier 4 pandemic restrictions.

It comes as a court of appeal judge ruled that the Met had “no arguable basis” to appeal a high court judgement that it breached the rights of RTS organisers in relation to the vigil.

Dania Al-Obeid, 27, of Stratford; Vivien Hohmann, 20, of Clapham; Ben Wheeler, 21, of Kennington and Kevin Godin-Prior, 68, of Manchester are charged with participating in a gathering of more than two people in a public outdoor place in a Tier 4 area.

A hearing took place at Westminster magistrates court today (Wednesday, June 1).

The Evening Standard reports that the prosecution was handled behind closed doors, via the single justice procedure.

A court spokeswoman told LondonWorld no result had yet been recorded and that the four individuals were not present at the hearing.

A Met Police spokesperson said: “Four people appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today charged with participating in a gathering of more than two people in a public outdoor place in a Covid-19 Tier 4 area.

“They are Dania Al-Obeid, 28, of Newham; Vivien Hohman, 20, of Lambeth; Ben Wheeler, 21, of Lambeth and Kevin Godin-Prior, 68, of Manchester.

“Two further people, Jade Spence, 33, of Lambeth, and Jenny Edmunds, 32, of Lewisham, are due to appear at the same court on June 15.

“This follows the issuing of nine fixed penalty notices (FPNs) relating to events on Clapham Common on March 13, 2021, at around 7pm.

“Seven of those issued with FPNs failed to pay. In one of these cases no further action was taken. The remaining six were charged as above.

“The decisions follow a full evidential review.”