A former Labour Party staffer who worked as borough organiser in Croydon when Tony Newman was leader of the council has been charged with offences relating to indecent images of children.
Charged: former Croydon Labour staffer Tom Dewey
It is understood that at the time, his local manager was Labour councillor Clive Fraser. Dewey was not re-employed in Croydon at the end of his initial six-month contract.
Last night, The Hackney Citizen reported that Dewey, 36, has been charged with three counts of making indecent images of children, possession of extreme pornographic images and possession of prohibited images of children, following a year-long investigation by the National Crime Agency.
Dewey was elected as a Labour councillor in Hackney in May 2022, but within days he resigned in unexplained circumstances.
In fact, Dewey had been arrested by the NCA “at his home in Hackney in April 2022 and was released under investigation”, according to local newspaper reports.
Despite this, Dewey remained as a Labour Party candidate for the 2022 council elections on May 5, where he was elected for De Beauvoir ward with more than 1,100 votes, ahead of Green, LibDem and independent candidates.
Police raid: the NCA has been working on the Dewey case at least since April 2022
Then, on May 18 last year, The Hackney Citizen reported that Dewey resigned as a councillor before he had even attended his first full council meeting.
Sources in Hackney have confirmed to Inside Croydon that at the time of his arrest, Dewey was sharing part of a house where Philip Glanville, the elected Mayor of Hackney, also lived.
“Phil kicked Tom out of the houseshare as soon as the police raid happened,” according to one source.
“Phil has political ambitions. He would not knowingly have shared a house with anybody doing what Tom is alleged to have done.”
It is understood that at the time of the raid, the police seized Dewey’s laptop and other electronic devices.
After working for the Labour Party in Croydon, Dewey had spells with public relations agencies where he provided “professional expertise in housing and planning”. He also worked for Labour-controlled Hackney Council, advising their cabinet and Mayor.
And in 2019 he was the election agent for Hackney South and Shoreditch MP, Meg Hillier.
No one from Croydon Labour has been prepared to offer any reason why Dewey’s spell working on campaigns and party administration came to such an abrupt ending. “He was employed by the Labour Party, not me,” Jones said when approached by Inside Croydon.
Dewey remains released under investigation and will appear in court at a date to be confirmed.
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As Labour expels members for expressing views such as supporting proportional representation, it is interesting to note their support for someone like Dewey who was allowed to stand as a Councillor despite facing such serious charges. Dewey was also an Associate Director of Kanda, one of those public relations companies interrelated with Property Developers. This tells you who really holds influence over the modern day Labour Party.
And a member of Labour First, Derek. We’ll leave it to you to check out their membership
The charges were filed last week. The election was 14 months ago. It’s important to get facts right.
The charges were filed recently, but the Labour Party almost certainly knew about the allegations at the time. It’s important to include all of the facts.
Dewey appeared in Uxbridge Magistrates Court in July of this year and pleaded guilty to five charges of making and possessing child abuse images, one charge of making or downloading five category A images of children, the most serious, as well as charges of making 41 category B images and 203 category C images. He was subsequently found guilty. His sentence?
Unfortunately Labour Party is not better than the rest. This Tom Dewey is an eye opener.
It may be better to avoid wasting your votes.