Miranda Grell

Miranda Agnes Jayne Grell (born June 1978) is a barrister and former Labour Party politician and councillor for the London Borough of Waltham Forest. She was the first person to be found guilty of making false statements under the Representation of the People Act 1983, having made false allegations of paedophilia against her political opponent, Barry Smith, during an election campaign. Grell was banned for holding public office for three years as a result. She was subsequently called to the Bar of England and Wales by the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple.

Early life

Grell was born in 1978 to parents from Dominica who had moved to Britain in 1973,^[2] she states she had no relationship with her father.^[3] She attended Walthamstow School for Girls,^[4] studied European Studies with Modern Languages at the University of Manchester, gaining a First Class Honours, and took a Master's degree in Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics.^[2]

Politics

Grell joined the Labour Party in 1999 having been persuaded to do so by her friend and fellow student Chuka Umunna,^[5][6] who became an MP in 2010.

At the time she stood in the local election, she worked as a Senior Policy Advisor to the conciliation service Acas. She had previously worked as a trainee speech writer for Anna Diamantopoulou.^[2] Following her election to Waltham Forest council, she then went to work as a researcher for the former Deputy Mayor of London, Nicky Gavron.^[7] She served on the Management Committee of the pressure group Compass from June 2005 until her resignation from the committee on 30 November 2007.^[8] Grell was also a school governor.^[9]

2006 local election controversy

Grell was elected in the May 2006 local elections for the Leyton ward of Waltham Forest. In a close result, Grell won by 28 votes, but gained the seat via an unexpectedly large swing from the Liberal Democrats in a split result. However, in September 2007, she went on trial on charges under the Representation of the People Act 1983 of making a false statement of fact about a candidate's personal character or conduct for electoral advantage, specifically that she made allegations of paedophilia against her gay Liberal Democrat opponent, Barry Smith. In addition to losing his seat Smith was verbally abused in the street, spat at and was forced to relocate to the North of England as a result of the false allegations, fearing for his life.^[2][10]

Witnesses against Grell included a Labour voter and also another Labour candidate for her ward, Nicholas Russell. Grell admitted to outing her opponent and falsely claiming he had a 19-year-old Thai boyfriend (his partner was actually 39 and Malaysian), though she denied making the false allegations of paedophilia to four residents. On 21 September 2007, she was found guilty on two counts fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £3,000 towards the prosecution costs.^[10]

On 24 October 2007, Grell's supporters launched a campaign to finance her appeal,^[11] but it was then reported that the Labour Party would pay her legal costs.^[7] Labour then withdrew this support. On 27 November, The Independent newspaper quoted a party spokesman: "Following legal advice in the last few days, the Labour Party today withdrew its support for Miranda Grell's appeal."^[12] Criticism was leveled at the party for supporting Grell's appeal, in particular by gay rights campaigner and former Labour candidate Peter Tatchell.^[10]

Grell's appeal hearing began on 28 November 2007 at Snaresbrook Crown Court before Judge Peter Birts QC and two lay magistrates. On 30 November, Grell's conviction for making false statements about another candidate to gain electoral advantage was upheld. She vacated her seat and was banned from holding public office for three years.^[13] The by-election for Leyton ward on 14 February 2008 was won by Liberal Democrat Winnie Smith.^[14]

Following the appeal verdict, Grell resigned from the Labour Party, her job working for the Deputy Mayor of London and the Management Committee of the Compass pressure group, but still pleaded her innocence.^[8][15]

Subsequent Career

She became the interim development officer, then Business Development Manager, of the Hackney Community Law Centre.^[16]

In November 2014, after completing the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) at the City University Law School in Gray's Inn London, Grell was called to the Bar of England and Wales by the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple.

See also

• Phil Woolas (Labour MP later disqualified under same law)

References

External links

• Grell's homepage
• Waltham Forest council page
• Initial Times article on court case
• Times article on case's conclusion