Bomb target: one of the many ULEZ cameras deliberately damaged by vandals, including one which was blown up in Sidcup last year by an explosive device
Vandals contine to be charged, have court dates set and are found guilty after causing hundreds of thousands of pounds of criminal damage – while Croydon’s Mayor, who was an ‘expert’ on an anti-ULEZ Facebook group, and his Tory MP chum have not had to face the consequences
A south Londoner has been charged and is due to appear at the Old Bailey following an investigation by the Met Police into an explosion at the site of a newly installed ULEZ camera in Sidcup in December last year.
Kevin Rees, 62, of Harcourt Avenue, Sidcup, was charged with causing an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property, contrary to Section 2 of the Explosive Substances Act 1883. He was also charged with three counts of possessing a prohibited weapon, contrary to Section 5(1)(b) Firearms Act 1968.
Rees was expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today, but was absent after suffering a suspected stroke over the weekend, according to his lawyers.
Rees’ case is due to be listed at the Old Bailey for a preliminary hearing on November 22. No pleas were indicated in court today. Rees is on bail until the next court hearing, with Judge Nina Tempia setting conditions that he continues to live at his home address and does not engage in any ULEZ-related protests.
There are now more than 3,700 Ultra Low Emission Zone cameras across London, which according to Transport for London cost £6,000 a time. It has been suggested that as many as 1,500 cameras have been targeted in some way by anti-ULEZ vandals, and bombers.
Police were called to reports of an explosion on Willersley Avenue, Sidcup, at approximately 6.45pm December 6, 2023.
Two-tier policing: will Croydon Mayor Jason Perry and Conservative MP Chris Philp, now the shadow Home Secretary, ever be forced to face the consequences for their part in an anti-ULEZ Facebook group that provoked vandalism and criminal damage?
The investigation into the incident was carried out by officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command.
On December 18 last year, the police arrested a 60-year-old man in Sidcup on suspicion of conspiracy to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or property. He was subsequently charged.
On the same date, another man in his 60s was arrested in Horsham for similar offences. This man was subsequently released from investigation in relation to the explosion incident, but he was investigated in relation to a separate incident of alleged criminal damage to the ULEZ camera, which took place earlier on the same day.
“The two incidents – the criminal damage to the ULEZ camera, and the explosion – are not being linked at this time,” according to the Met.
Stephen Richard Harwood-Stamper of Church Road, Broadbridge Heath, Horsham, West Sussex, has been charged with criminal damage, contrary to Section 1 of the Criminal Damage Act 1971, and using a false plate whilst driving, contrary to Section 44 of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994.
He is due to appear at Bromley Magistrates’ Court on November 27.
In a third case of ULEZ criminal vandalism, another man, also from Sidcup, Joseph Nicholls, has recently been sentenced for sharing messages on Facebook encouraging people to damage the CCTV cameras.
Nicholls, 43, was found to have shared a post in a closed anti-ULEZ Facebook group in April 2023 which encouraged members to damage and dismantle the cameras.
Criminal damage: this was an axed ULEZ lamppost on Marlpit Avenue in January this year – while Mayor Perry continued to run his anti-ULEZ Facebook group
Nicholls also sent an email to Yunex Traffic, the company that operates the cameras, saying if he saw any of their electricians, he would “smash each and every one of them in the face”.
Nicholls was given a suspended jail sentence of 10 months for sharing the social media post and 18 weeks for the threatening email, to run concurrently.
He was also ordered to pay £6,800 and carry out 15 days of rehabilitation and 150 hours of unpaid work.
Nicholls cried in the dock when he was sentenced.
Sentencing at Woolwich Crown Court, Recorder Andrew Hammond said: “This case is not about ULEZ but the rule of law.” The judge told Nicholls that his email was a “deliberate attempt on your part to intimidate other people”.
Recorder Hammond said: “They have the right to perform their jobs without fear of intimidation or threats of violence.”
The judge also said despite Nicholls never damaging ULEZ cameras himself, he had contributed to a wider movement that had led to 174 cameras being vandalised in some way.
It was during this wave of vandalism and criminal damage, that the Met called in the anti-terrorism unit following the Sidcup lamp post bombing last December.
The criminal charges and convictions elsewhere in south London are just a tad awkward for Jason Perry, the Mayor of Croydon, and his Conservative Party colleague, MP Chris Philp, now the shadow Home Secretary, whose brief includes being responsible for … law and order.
As Inside Croydon was first to report, Croydon Mayor Perry was listed as the “expert” on the “Croydon Say No to ULEZ Expansion” Facebook page, where multiple instances of ULEZ cameras and other infrastructure being vandalised and destroyed were openly celebrated.
Scroll of honour: group admins, including the Croydon Mayor, of the dodgy Facebook group
Others listed as “admins” on Perry’s anti-ULEZ Facebook group included William Perry, the Mayor’s son and an official in the Conservative Party, James Hillam, who was selected to stand for election as a Tory candidate in Croydon in 2022, and Coulsdon councillor Luke Shortland, who works as a “communications officer” at City Hall.
Perry’s Facebook group was part of “a coordinated network” of social media groups, found to be run by Conservative Party officials.
The groups provided “a platform for widespread racist, Islamophobic and antisemitic posts, as well as conspiracy theorist content and posts inciting criminal damage”, according to a Greenpeace investigation.
The anti-ULEZ Facebook pages were described by Greenpeace as “an absolute cesspit of vile racism and hate speech”.
Mayor Perry’s Croydon anti-ULEZ page even hosted an 80-second video rant from Liam Tuffs (also known as Liam Gillett), a “venomously racist” mate of far-right criminal “Tommy Robinson” (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon).
The video posted on Perry’s group had Tuffs spreading deliberate misinformation about immigrants getting priority access to GP appointments and housing.
Perry denied any wrongdoing on his part over the incitements offered on the Facebook page he administered.
The best that Philp could offer when he was asked about the dodgy Facebook group was: “I cannot be held responsible for what other people post on Facebook groups which I do not administer.” So it was all Perry’s fault then…
The Croydon anti-ULEZ Facebook group was “archived” in May, just days after Labour’s Khan was re-elected London Mayor for an unprecedented third term.
Read more: Tory minister is member of online group that salutes vandals
Read more: Perry should apologise for anti-ULEZ Facebook group says MP
Read more: Perry’s Facebook group hosted video by Islamophobic ‘comic’
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
- Inside Croydon works together with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, as well as BBC London News and ITV London
