Reform UK to CPS & Home Secretary: Charge the Manchester airport attackers of three police officers, or we will crowdfund a private prosecution

Reform UK have written to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper asking for an urgent update on the Manchester Airport incident where three police officers were violently assaulted.

Reform UK are preparing to crowdfund a private prosecution if they do not get an adequate response from the Home Secretary.

Reform UKs letter in full

The Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP

Secretary of State for the Home Department

2 Marsham Street

Westminster

London

SW1P 4DF

HOUSE OF COMMONS

LONDON SW1A 0AA

Monday 7th October

Dear Home Secretary,

You will be aware of very real concerns among the general public about two tier policing and two tier justice. Whilst you and the Prime Minister try to deny its actual existence, you cannot deny the perception.

We are writing about a current situation which typifies these concerns in the starkest manner that we can ever recall.

On Tuesday 23rd July a violent incident took place at Manchester Airport where two men viciously attacked a number of police officers, including some who were armed. There is clear CCTV evidence showing exactly how brutal this attack was on the officers, being a very serious offence. The assailants used such a high level of force that one female officer had her nose broken and other officers were floored and injured. The officers showed great restraint in only using tasers rather than their weapons, for which they should be applauded.

Some 11 weeks later, the assailants have still not been charged and are free on the streets. Given their aggression to those officers, they must be considered a risk to the public. Yet just two weeks after this incident, we saw that other people who committed the same offence of assaulting police officers, were summarily arrested, charged and jailed within days with long sentences to act as a deterrent.

This is two tier policing. For some reason these Manchester Airport assailants are being given special, different treatment.

In addition, because the CCTV footage came out in two sections, a false impression was allowed to permeate that the officers had in fact attacked first when in reality they were desperately fighting to protect themselves from this vicious attack. Inexplicably, the full CCTV footage did not emerge until Saturday 27th July, from unofficial sources.

We now understand from our sources that a very senior person within Greater Manchester Police (GMP) or above, made a deliberate decision not to release the full CCTV footage soon after the incident, overruling a recommendation from more junior officers. This significant decision led to misinformation circulating, protests and utterly false allegations against the police officers and the GMP.

So we have a situation where the first investigation was launched by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) against the police officers, rather than the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) against the assailants.

The IOPC investigation is ongoing and bizarrely, it appears that they are also investigating the leak of the footage that exonerates the police officers. In reality, common sense dictates that the IOPC should have closed their investigation when this full footage emerged. There is no excuse for this long delay, which shines a very poor light on the CPS and IOPC when the public want prompt, fair, equal justice. Such is the public concern over two tier policing that the CPS and IOPC must give an urgent update on why this is all taking so long. We presume everyone has been interviewed by now, but perhaps they can confirm if this is correct? The CCTV footage is clear, it should not be difficult to make a decision.

We have genuine reason to be concerned that in fact the CPS is awaiting for the IOPC to find some fault with the police officers, which will then give them a reason not to progress charges against the assailants. This is totally unacceptable.

This delay and lack of support for serving officers is deeply damaging to the morale of all police officers, as well as impacting on their ability to do their job properly. If police officers are constantly working with the fear that their seniors and the IOPC will throw them under the bus at any moment, then they will not be able to protect the public in the full and fair way that we want.

We are therefore serving notice that if the CPS is not going to charge the assailants, then we will organise a private criminal prosecution against them. We have taken initial advice and have a legal team on standby to progress when required. This will be funded by a crowdfund process that we will launch if needs be; clearly it will be very well supported.

Given this situation, it may also be appropriate to consider whether there has been misconduct or misfeasance in public office by people at the upper levels of the GMP, the CPS and the IOPC.

Yours sincerely,

Nigel Farage MP, Leader of Reform UK

Richard Tice MP Deputy Leader of Reform UK

Lee Anderson MP

Rupert Lowe MP

James McMurdock MP

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