Follow up on police investigation into Reform councillors and political assistant

You may recall that two Warwickshire County Council Reform councillors and Reform’s political assistant were reported to the Police back in May after members of our team were subjected to homophobia, aggression, ridicule, and intimidation. It has taken over two months for the report to be looked into and for an outcome to be reached.

The outcome is no action due to there being no evidence. This is despite multiple unconnected witnesses backing up what happened that day. It is also despite one of the Reform councillors acting in an official capacity to send a threatening letter in the post to one of our trustees, which was reported as victim intimidation.

As frustrating as the outcome is, it has to be accepted. It is the kind of outcome that so many LGBTQ+ people are used to. However, this is not quite the end.

Firstly, now the Police investigation is over, an investigation by Warwickshire County Council’s monitoring officer can now proceed.

Secondly, there was some alarming behaviour and failures from the investigating officer at Warwickshire Police. In that two month period, none of the suspects were interviewed. Even with the outcome being communicated today by a different officer, it was confirmed that the suspects were never interviewed.

Additionally, a witness statement was twisted and used against the trustee who made the report. That trustee was then subjected to distressing, humiliating behaviour from the officer. A report against that trustee had allegedly been made by the witness. That was not actually true. A report was not made.

A professional standards investigation into that officer is now underway at Warwickshire Police. Hopefully there will be an apology and a commitment to doing much better for LGBTQ+ communities.

This has been a stressful couple of months. The attacks on LGBTQ+ communities, Warwickshire Pride, and its trustees takes a huge toll on people’s wellbeing.

The outcome of the professional standards investigation will be communicated when it concludes.

Until then, we have a pride festival to run in a couple of weeks’ time, our support services and social groups to keep running, and LGBTQ+ communities across Warwickshire to continue serving.

We will always be here for you. We will always stand up and speak out when something is not right.