The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is investigating after the Metropolitan Police failed to identify a suspect caught on CCTV in a firebombing attempt targeting Nigel Farage’s home last year. The oversight has raised concerns that Scotland Yard may have missed an opportunity to protect the public.
On April 20, 2023, a firebombing attempt occurred at the Greater London residence of Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party. Farage’s partner, Laure Ferrari, discovered damage to the front door caused by a chisel or crowbar, alongside an empty canister of lighter fuel that had been sprayed on the door. Farage has suggested the attacker was interrupted by a neighbor who owns three large dogs and typically leaves for work around the time of the attack.
Following the incident, Metropolitan Police officers conducted interviews and collected approximately 74 hours of CCTV footage from cameras installed around Farage’s property. However, two months later, police informed Farage that the footage contained no useful evidence, and no further investigative steps would be pursued.
In August 2024, after the murder of Reform UK spokesman Ann Widdecombe at her home in Devon, counter-terrorism officers assisting with that investigation reexamined the footage related to Farage’s case. This review revealed that the suspect and their vehicle had indeed been recorded on CCTV for an extended period—information previously overlooked.
As a result, Counter Terrorism Policing London has referred the matter to the IOPC for a mandatory conduct investigation into the police staff member responsible for reviewing the CCTV. The watchdog is assessing whether the staff member’s handling of the evidence fell below professional standards, potentially amounting to discreditable conduct.
No arrests or charges have been made in connection with the attempted firebombing of Farage’s home at this stage.
Separately, Joshua Kerry, 28, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, has been charged with the murder of Ann Widdecombe and is currently awaiting trial.
In an unrelated development, some officers at a hate crime conference held training sessions that included criticism of Nigel Farage. The sessions, part of a programme titled "Project Unity," reportedly compared Farage’s expressed doubts about young Muslims’ ability to embrace British values to a racially aggravated offence and suggested that similar criticisms directed at Jewish people would result in prosecution.
Police sources clarified that these sessions were part of the conference schedule rather than official police training and that the speaker was neither employed by nor formally contracted to the police force.