A student was arrested on suspicion of common assault, and escorted by police off the coach that was returning to Oxford after the Law Society Ball at the end of last term.
The accused, an Oxford student named as Tom, was taken straight to Kensington Police Station, where he spent the night. A number of students from Lincoln, St Benet’s Hall and Mansfield were involved in the incident, which took place outside the Natural History Museum in London, where the Ball was held.
The alleged assault was rumoured to be of a homophobic nature and was aimed at an individual who is not an Oxford student, but was invited to the ball by a Law Society committee member.
One student described how what began as a lighthearted conversation, soon turned hostile and got out of hand.
“After the ball, everyone drunk was socialising on the roadside. I was introduced to someone, who asked to borrow my lighter. We discussed the ball and in particular the dancers – the boy commented that he was not interested in the dancers, or in girls at all,” he said.
“[He] said to a tall blonde guy in the group, ‘You look like Boris Johnson’, and turning to a dark haired boy next to him, ‘Is this your boyfriend David Cameron?’ There was a pause as the boy saw his friend and beckoned to him; at this, someone commented, ‘I see you’ve called your boyfriend over too.’ I knew the boy was gay due to our earlier conversation but the boys in the group did not, so continued with boyfriend jokes. I wasn’t particularly amused by any of this but everyone else was laughing. Tempers were rising, especially [his]’.
“At this point I turned away to have a cigarette, and when I returned to the group, there was an argument going on. I said we should get back on the coach, but some of the group stayed to ask the boy again if he was going to drive, as he was clearly drunk. He commented, ‘You peasants get on a coach and I’ll get in my Mercedes.’ As we were getting on the coach, he was still ranting about Boris Johnson and his Mercedes.”
It was soon after this that the assault is alleged to have taken place within the group. A source close to student providing comment stated that the reason Tom was taken by the police was that the boy remembered his name from the students within the group.
Hannah Webb, a student at St Catherine’s college, explained what happened next. “We had been on the coach about twenty five minutes, when Oscar Robinson (the Law Soc committee member on our coach) got a call from the police saying that the coach needed to pull over immediately. We were told that everyone whose name was Tom had to get off. One of the Toms did not get back on the bus, he was taken away by the police.” Pippa Smythe, who was also on the coach added, “The police had been following us from London. Everyone was a bit shocked, we all knew it was to do with an assault.”
Sarah Burton, Michaelmas Term Treasurer of the LawSoc Committee commented, “I was concerned to hear an assault was reported after the ball. The coach company we used told me they are going to continue to provide us with coach travel for our next ball. Equally the staff at the Natural History Museum had absolutely no issues with how the event went.”
Tom was subsequently released without charge, and has recently learnt that the police have dropped the investigation, following an examination of CCTV footage. The student confirmed, “No charges were ever brought. The investigation has been dropped. I’ve persistently denied all the charges.”
Inspector Cousings from the Metropolitan police confirmed that Tom was arrested and investigated. Cousins said, “The matter was fully investigated. The file was passed to Crown Persecution Service who reviewed the case and decided there was insufficient evidence to pursue the matter. No further action has been taken.”
Alexei Franks, President of Law Soc said, “We gave our full cooperation to the authorities who did not feel it was necessary to pursue the matter. We thought we’d take their lead on this and so feel the matter is closed.”
