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Former Labour councillor charged with blackmail over Westminster 'honeytrap'
The Independent
|September 18, 2025
A former Labour councillor has been charged after an investigation into the Westminster honeytrap scandal.
Oliver Steadman, 28, has been charged with one count of blackmail and five counts of improper use of a public phone network. He will appear in court on 3 November.
He was arrested last June as part of a probe into the scandal, which saw MPs and staffers working in Westminster approached by someone calling themselves either "Abi" or "Charlie".
The messages would include details of the MPs and staffers' careers and campaigns they had worked on to build rapport with victims. They would then descend into sexually explicit messaging, with "Abi" or "Charlie" sending graphic images to victims and asking for nude photographs in return.
This story is from the September 18, 2025 edition of The Independent.
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