Charges against two women who wore images of Hamas paragliders taking part in the attack on Israel were approved last night – but they will not face trial until at least 2025, Britain’s top police officer said.
The pair are thought to be facing charges of inviting support for a banned terrorist organisation after they wore images of the paragliders at a pro-Palestinian demo in Whitehall on October 14.
Earlier, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley took aim at the Government’s senior law officer for slowing down his force’s handling of the case.
He said the criminal justice system needs to improve its response amid high tensions during the Gaza-Israel conflict.
Sir Mark said yesterday the Met had been told there would be a ‘two to four-week’ delay while Attorney General Victoria Prentis considered paperwork.
A spokesman for Ms Prentis later said consent had been granted for charges to be made within hours of her receiving the file.
Charges against two women who wore images of Hamas paragliders taking part in the attack on Israel were approved last night. Pictured: Protesters wearing paraglider pictures in London
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the criminal justice system needs to improve its response amid high tensions during the Gaza-Israel conflict. Pictured: Pro-Palestine protest outside Downing Street on 14 October
Protesters were pictured wearing images of paragliders taped to their clothing at a protest in London
However, a backlog of more than 65,000 cases in the Crown courts means many cases are taking years to reach trial.
Sir Mark told the News Agents podcast: ‘The way the court system is working at the moment… they’ll probably be on trial sometime in 2025, or maybe even later. My team and the Crown Prosecution Service worked flat out for 36 hours because we want to go to charge.
‘And yet, the Attorney General’s Office tells us they need two to four weeks to consider the paperwork.’ Sir Mark added: ‘We’re at the front end of a system which is clogged and slow and it needs to move better.’
Last night the now-approved charges were yet to be brought, pending further work between police and prosecutors.
Sir Mark also defended his officers who tore down posters of hostages taken from Israel during Hamas’ October 7 attack. The fliers were removed from the shopfront of a chemist in Edgware, north London, by two policemen at the weekend.
The commissioner said the posters ‘had been put on that shop deliberately because someone pro-Palestinian worked there’, saying the general use of posters to highlight the plight of hostages was ‘perfectly reasonable’.
He said officers had faced criticism as ‘people bouncing things around Twitter aren’t interested in the facts’.
A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office said last night: ‘There has been no delay in the charging process for the two women who were arrested on suspicion of displaying images in support of Hamas.
‘CPS received a complete version of the police report in the early hours of this morning – this was passed on to AGO at midday for permission to consent to prosecute. Consent was granted this evening as a matter of urgency.’
A Met Police spokesman said the ‘Attorney General’s Office has accelerated its processes to provide us with consent to prosecute’, adding: ‘Officers will act urgently once the necessary formal confirmation has been received.’