Independent investigation into the Green Party’s actions following the allegations and charges brought against David Challenor A report for The Green Party of England & Wales January 2019 Authors: Kieran Seale David Scott Lucy Scott-Moncrieff © Verita 2019 Verita is an independent consultancy that specialises in conducting and managing investigations, reviews and inquiries for regulated organisations. This report has been written for The Green Party of England & Wales and may not be used, published or reproduced in any way without their express written permission. Verita 338 City Road London EC1V 2PY Telephone 020 7494 5670 E-mail [email protected] Website www.verita.net 2 Contents 1. Introduction 4 2. Terms of reference 5 3. Executive summary and recommendations 7 4. Approach and structure 23 5. Chronology 25 6. Notifying the Green Party of the charges 26 7. Knowledge and response of the national party 54 8. Knowledge and response of people in Coventry 66 9. Conclusions and policy and procedural issues arising 71 Appendices Appendix A Team biographies 74 Appendix B Terms of reference 76 Appendix C List of documents 79 Appendix D List of interviewees 80 3 1. Introduction In late August 2018, the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW or “the party”) learned that one of its members, David Challenor, had been convicted of multiple sexual offences. David Challenor, a member of the party in Coventry, had acted as election agent for his daughter (Aimee Challenor) in the general election in May 2017, and for his daughter and his wife (Tina Challenor) in local elections in May 2018. Aimee Challenor was the party’s national spokesperson on LGBTIQA+ issues, a member of the executive of the national party and was standing for election as deputy leader of the party1. The party had recently learned that Aimee Challenor notified two senior party members about David Challenor’s arrest in November 2016, but that this disclosure was not widely known in the rest of the party. Nick Martin, the chief executive of the party asked Verita to conduct an independent investigation in September 2018. He asked Verita to investigate if members of the party acted in accordance with party policy and procedures, and if they took appropriate actions once they learned of his conviction. The terms of reference were divided into two stages, stage one which focusses on fact finding and stage two which looks at future actions. This report covers stage one. Verita is a consultancy specialising in the management and conduct of investigations, reviews and inquiries. Kieran Seale and David Scott carried out the investigation, with specialist advice from Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, who also participated in the interviews with Aimee Challenor. Nicola Salmon supported the investigation and Ed Marsden peer reviewed it. Verita team biographies are in Appendix A. 1 For simplicity, in this report we refer to the Green Party of England and Wales as ‘the national party’, and the Coventry branch of the party as ‘the local party’. We acknowledge that these terms do not always reflect the language that the party uses to describe itself. 4 2. Terms of reference The following are the main elements of the terms of reference for the investigation. The full terms of reference are in Appendix B: This investigation has been commissioned by the Acting Chair of the Green Party Executive (GPEx), the co-chairs of the Green Party Regional Council (GPRC), and the leadership team of the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW). Purpose of the investigation David Challenor was charged by Police with serious sexual offences in November 2016. He was convicted in August 2018. In May 2017 and in May 2018 he acted as election agent for his daughter Aimee Challenor. The purpose of the investigation is to examine the party’s response to the allegations and charges brought against David Challenor. The investigation will be completed in two stages. The aims of the inquiry are to: Stage one 1. Establish a chronology of events from November 2016 2. Establish what actions, if any, were taken by members of the party or staff to ensure that David Challenor’s appointment as election agent was made in accordance with party policy and procedures 3. Establish what actions, if any, were taken by members of the party or staff to make colleagues aware of the substance of the allegations and/or charges against David Challenor 4. Establish which members of the party or staff, if any, were made aware of these allegations and/or charges 5. Establish what actions, if any, were taken by members of the party- voluntary officers or staff- after they became aware of this information 5 6. Establish to what extent action, if any, was taken to ensure appropriate safeguarding was maintained in the light of this information 7. Report on any other issues that arise that are relevant to the terms of reference Stage two 8. Consider whether any form of disciplinary action should be considered against any member of the party or staff 9. Consider whether any changes should be made to party policies and procedures to strengthen them in the light of these events, and make any relevant recommendations 10. Consider whether any new policies or procedures need to be developed and implemented by the party, and make any relevant recommendations 11. Summary report 6 3. Executive summary and recommendations Introduction In late August 2018, the Green Party of England and Wales learned that one of its members, David Challenor, had been convicted of multiple serious sexual offences. David Challenor, a member of the party in Coventry, had acted as election agent for his daughter (Aimee Challenor) in the general election in May 2017, and for his daughter and his wife (Tina Challenor) in local elections in May 2018. Aimee Challenor was the party’s national spokesperson on LGBTIQA+ issues, a member of the executive of the national party and was standing for election as deputy leader of the party. Verita was asked to investigate if members of the party acted in accordance with party policy and procedures, and if they took appropriate actions once they learned of David Challenor’s conviction. The investigation was undertaken in private. It comprised formal interviews and an examination of documents the Green Party and others supplied. We have made comments and recommendations based on our interviews and the information available to us to the best of our knowledge and belief. Chronology David Challenor was charged with 22 serious criminal offences including taking indecent photographs, false imprisonment, rape and sexual assault of a child, assault by penetration, and assault causing actual bodily harm on, 5 November 2016. On the same day, Aimee Challenor sent a message to the Green Party’s external communications co- ordinator about the charges. She also informed Coventry Pride. David Challenor appeared in court on 7 November 2016 and reporting restrictions were imposed. In April 2017, Aimee Challenor was selected as a general election candidate for the Green Party in Coventry South. She appointed David Challenor as her election agent. In September 2017, Aimee was elected to the national executive of the Green Party. 7 In May 2018 Aimee Challenor, and her mother stood as candidates for Coventry City Council. They both appointed David Challenor as their election agent. In June/July 2018 Aimee Challenor stood as a candidate for deputy leader of the Green Party. David Challenor was convicted and sentenced to 22 years in prison in August 2018. The Green Party expelled him from the party shortly afterwards. The charges After he was charged, David Challenor was released on bail. We have seen no evidence that the media reported the charges. The case only received substantial local and national publicity after David Challenor’s conviction in August 2018. The nature of the charges against David Challenor raises the issue of whether other children or vulnerable adults were at risk from the time of the charges through to his conviction and imprisonment. This type of concern is generally referred to as ‘safeguarding’. Although legislation and policies relating to safeguarding can be complex, in this context it amounts to a simple question: “is any vulnerable person at risk” ? In this report, we use the term safeguarding to mean the general responsibility of every citizen to protect vulnerable people. We found no evidence that the West Midlands police told anyone in the Green Party about the charges against David Challenor. Activity in political parties, particularly at the time of a general election, provides the opportunity to interact with a large number of people in an unstructured environment. This is likely to include young and/or vulnerable people. In general, if the police have information that a person involved in political activities has been charged with these types of offences, they should consider if safeguarding issues arise and take action, if needed. 8 Awareness of the charges David Challenor David Challenor joined the Green Party on 17 December 2015. Over the subsequent two and a half years, he gradually became more active in the party. As a party member, the first person who had a responsibility for drawing the charges to the Green Party’s attention was David Challenor himself. We found no evidence that he did so. He should have done. Tina Challenor Tina Challenor became a party member on 1 May 2016. She was not active in the Coventry Green Party. She told us she did not tell anyone in the Green Party about the charges because of the reporting restrictions. Tina Challenor had the opportunity to inform the party of the charges against her husband, but she did not do so.