Scotland Yard says Partygate probe is FINISHED
Scotland Yard says Partygate probe is FINISHED: Police draw a line under probe with 126 fines handed out – as No10 faces questions over whether Boris has received any more penalties
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Scotland Yard today announced that its Partygate probe is complete with 126 fines handed out in total.
The force said Operation Hillman has finished after looking into eight separate dates involving alleged breaches of lockdown in Downing Street and Whitehall.
It is not clear whether Boris Johnson has received another penalty in the probe – which cost the taxpayer around £460,000.
The news – ironically released during the government’s ‘Crime Week’ – raises the prospect that the full report by top mandarin Sue Gray will finally be published soon.
The PM has repeatedly insisted he will speak in detail about the Partygate scandal once the police and civil service process is complete.
Meanwhile, Keir Starmer is still waiting to hear the verdict of Durham Police on whether he breached lockdown after a ‘beer and curry’ with aides following election campaigning in April last year.
Rishi Sunak has already confirmed he was fined over attending a birthday celebration for the PM in the Cabinet room in 2020 – the same event that saw Mr Johnson and wife Carrie punished.
The Met said: ‘The Met has today announced the investigation into alleged breaches of Covid regulations at Downing Street and Whitehall, under Operation Hillman, is complete.
Scotland Yard said Operation Hillman has finished after looking into eight separate dates involving alleged breaches of lockdown in Downing Street and Whitehall. Boris Johnson (pictured) has been fined
‘In total, detectives have made 126 referrals for fixed penalty notices (FPNs) to the ACRO Criminal Records Office for breaches of Covid-19 regulations.
‘Of the referrals, all resulted or will do so in a FPN being issued. The breakdown of recipients is, 53 were men and 73 were women. Some people received more than one FPN.
‘We will not be releasing or confirming the identity of anyone involved in this investigation or providing further details of our findings, in line with the approach we’ve taken throughout the pandemic.’
The Yard said its position throughout the pandemic was that it did not ‘routinely investigate historic breaches of Covid regulations’.
‘This was for two reasons – first that we could not retrospectively engage and inform those involved that they were breaching the rules – an important step in our policing strategy around Covid – and second, that as these were summary-only offences, we did not judge it a proportionate use of officers’ time,’ the statement said.
However, the force said there were always ‘exceptions to this approach’, including where not doing so would significantly ‘undermine the legitimacy of the law’.
Twelve detectives worked through 345 documents, including emails, door logs, diary entries and witness statements during the investigation.
They also sifted 510 photographs and CCTV images and 204 questionnaires as part of a ‘careful and thorough enquiry’.
