London’s Metropolitan Police today confirmed they were investigating events on eight of the 12 dates when parties were reported – although, since there were multiple parties on some dates, they are investigating a total of 12 parties.
The force said in a statement that it received documents from the Cabinet Office on Friday and was now reviewing them “at pace” to confirm which individuals needed to be contacted for their account.
“This prioritisation will include reviewing all the material from the Cabinet Office, which includes more than 300 images and over 500 pages of information,” the force said.
The force said that it would normally issue a fixed-penalty notice in cases where it believed Covid regulations had been breached “without a reasonable excuse”.
“Once the penalty is paid, the matter is considered closed,” it said. “Alternatively, individuals may decide to dispute the notice. In these circumstances officers will consider whether to pursue the matter in a magistrates’ court.”
The statement acknowledged that the force’s action would “divide opinion”.
But it went on: “Police officers must, based on the information available to them, make carefully considered, difficult decisions, even when to do so is contentious.”
The force gave no timetable for the conclusion of its probe but said it would be pursuing the investigation “at pace”.
Commander Catherine Roper, the senior Metropolitan Police officer in charge of the investigation, told ITV News her officers were prioritising this week considering the evidence they received on Friday from the Cabinet Office, what further investigations were needed and whom they needed to contact.
Asked about the investigation’s timing and whether it would take weeks, months or a year, she said: “Absolutely not more than a year.”
Roper continued: “It’s a little bit difficult to answer that question because of course we’re still going through the material. That said, we’re looking to fast-track it and we’re looking to contact [further people] in a matter of weeks.”
This post has been updated to include comments from the Metropolitan Police
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