Four Labour activists charged with trying to fix candidate selection process

Four Labour activists have been charged over allegations that a party database was manipulated to increase a candidate’s chance of selection.The four include Joel Bodmer, 40, who ran as a potential candidate for the Croydon East constituency in south London but later withdrew. He is charged with perverting the course of justice for allegedly altering phone records.He and two others from Croydon – Shila Bodmer, 41, and Carole Bonner, 69 – are accused with Gabriel Leroy, a 24-year-old from Southwark, of offences linked to computer misuse.The Metropolitan police said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) authorised the charges after an investigation by the force’s cybercrime unit into allegations that a Labour Party database was manipulated to increase a candidate’s chances of selection in Croydon East.The four are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on 19 May, charged with an offence under the Criminal Law Act 1977 and the Computer Misuse Act 1990.Frank Ferguson, the head of the CPS’s special crime and counter-terrorism division, said: “Our prosecutors have worked to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring this case to court and that it is in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings. We have worked closely with the Metropolitan Police Service as it has carried out its investigation.”The Labour Party’s selection process in Croydon East, a new constituency, was suspended in 2023 amid complaints that members’ data provided to some candidates was inaccurate. All four of the accused have been suspended from the party while legal proceedings take place.A Labour spokesperson said: “These are incredibly serious charges. When complaints were first raised with the Labour Party we conducted a thorough internal investigation and we referred the matter to the police as soon as potential criminal wrongdoing was identified. We cannot comment further while legal proceedings are ongoing.”