Ex-Labour councillor charged over Westminster blackmail allegation

A former Labour councillor has been charged with blackmail following an investigation into an alleged Westminster honeytrap.

Oliver Steadman, 28, has been charged with blackmail and communications offences linked to five Westminster figures, the Metropolitan Police said.

He will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on November 3.

Unwarranted demands

Steadman, of Islington, north London, has been been charged with one count of blackmail in relation to alleged unwarranted demands for the contact telephone numbers of up to 12 individuals.

He has also been charged with a communications offence of improper use of a public electronic communications network, in relation to the same victim.

Steadman also faces four further communications offence charges over the improper use of a public electronic communications network, in relation to four other victims. This relates to the sending of alleged unsolicited indecent images.

Then-senior Conservative MP William Wragg resigned the party whip in April 2024 after he admitted giving politicians’ phone numbers to a suspected scammer he met on a dating app.

Flirtatious messages

The scammer was said to have used the aliases “Charlie” and “Abi” while sending flirtatious messages to attempt to coax MPs and other figures in political circles into sending explicit pictures.

Head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime division Malcolm McHaffie said: “We have decided to prosecute Oliver Steadman with blackmail and five communications offences in relation to a total of five victims working within politics and Westminster.

“This follows an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Service which looked into messages that included alleged unsolicited indecent images sent to a number of people within parliamentary political circles between October 2023 and April 2024 using WhatsApp.

“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.”