{"id":19532,"date":"2024-11-28T23:54:47","date_gmt":"2024-11-28T23:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=19532"},"modified":"2024-11-28T23:54:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-28T23:54:47","slug":"transport-secretary-pleaded-guilty-to-2014-work-phone-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=19532","title":{"rendered":"Transport secretary pleaded guilty to 2014 work phone incident"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has admitted pleading guilty to a criminal offence relating to a police investigation over a mobile phone she claimed was stolen.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Haigh said she told police she had lost her phone during a mugging on a night out in 2013 but later found it had not been taken.<\/p>\n

She said it was a “genuine mistake” but had been advised by a lawyer “not to comment” during a police interview. The police then referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service, she said.<\/p>\n

She said she pleaded guilty to making a false report to police at magistrates’ court six months before becoming an MP in the 2015 election, and received a discharge – the “lowest possible outcome”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A discharge is a type of sentence given to someone who is guilty of an offence but where the court decides not to impose a significant punishment.<\/p>\n

Whitehall sources have told the BBC that the transport secretary declared her discharge on appointment to the shadow cabinet when the Labour Party was in opposition.<\/p>\n

The BBC has been told Haigh received a conditional discharge, but have not been able to confirm details of the specific offence.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Haigh said: \u201cIn 2013 I was mugged while on a night out. I was a young woman and the experience was terrifying.<\/p>\n

“I reported it to the police and gave them a list of what I believed had been taken – including a work mobile phone that had been issued by my employer.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome time later I discovered that the mobile in question had not been taken. In the interim I had been issued with another work phone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe original work device being switched on triggered police attention and I was asked to come in for questioning. <\/p>\n

“My solicitor advised me not to comment during that interview and I regret following that advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe police referred the matter to the CPS and I appeared before magistrates’ court.<\/p>\n

“Under the advice of my solicitor I pleaded guilty – despite the fact this was a genuine mistake from which I did not make any gain. The magistrates accepted all of these arguments and gave me the lowest possible outcome – a discharge – available.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haigh has been Sheffield Heeley MP since 2015, and held a number of shadow ministerial and shadow cabinet roles before becoming transport secretary when Labour won the election in July.<\/p>\n

She is also a former Special Constable, a volunteer police officer with full powers of arrest, and served with the Metropolitan Police until 2011.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The chair of the Conservative Party said the prime minister has “serious questions” to answer about the matter.<\/p>\n

Nigel Huddleston said in a statement: “These are extremely concerning revelations about the person responsible for managing \u00a330bn of taxpayers’ money.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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Source: <\/em> www.bbc.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has admitted pleading guilty to a criminal offence relating to a police investigation over a mobile phone she claimed was stolen. In a statement, Haigh said she told police she had lost her phone during a mugging on a night out in 2013 but later found it had not been taken. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}