Miranda Grell
| Miranda Grell | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 1978 (age 38–39) |
| Residence | London |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Manchester |
| Known for | Making false statements about political opponent in breach of electoral law |
| Title | Councillor for the London Borough of Waltham Forest. |
| Term | May 2006 - November 2007 |
| Predecessor | Barry Smith |
| Successor | Winnie Smith |
| Political party | Labour Party |
| Criminal charge | Making a false statement of fact about a candidate's personal character or conduct for electoral advantage |
| Criminal penalty | Barred from holding public office for 3 years |
| Website | www |
Miranda Agnes Jayne Grell (born June 1978) is a barrister and former Labour Party councillor for the London Borough of Waltham Forest. She was the first person to be found guilty of making false statements under the Representation of the People Act 1983, having made false allegations of paedophilia against her political opponent, Barry Smith, during an election campaign. Grell was banned for holding public office for three years as a result.
She subsequently trained to become a barrister and was called to the Bar in 2014.
Grell was born in 1978 to parents from Dominica who had moved to Britain in 1973. She says she had no relationship with her father. She attended Walthamstow School for Girls, studied European studies with modern languages at the University of Manchester, gaining a first class honours degree, and took a master's degree in industrial relations from the London School of Economics.
Grell joined the Labour Party in 1999 having been persuaded to do so by her friend and fellow student Chuka Umunna, who became an MP in 2010.
At the time she stood in the Waltham Forest local election, she worked as a senior policy adviser to the conciliation service Acas. She had previously worked as a trainee speech writer for Anna Diamantopoulou. Following her election to the council, she went to work as a researcher for the then deputy mayor of London, Nicky Gavron. She served on the management committee of the pressure group Compass from June 2005 until her resignation from the committee on 30 November 2007. Grell was also a school governor.
Grell was elected in the May 2006 local elections for the Leyton ward of Waltham Forest London Borough Council. The ward returned three councillors, two Liberal Democrats and one Labour, Grell, in the third position. In 2002, Leyton had returned three Liberal Democrats. Grell gained the seat when the Liberal Democrats made gains in the borough. However, in September 2007, she went on trial on charges under the Representation of the People Act 1983 of making a false statement of fact about a candidate's personal character or conduct for electoral advantage, specifically that she made allegations of paedophilia against her gay Liberal Democrat opponent, Barry Smith. In addition to losing his seat Smith stated he was verbally abused in the street, spat at, and forced to relocate to the north of England as a result of the false allegations, fearing for his life.
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