A former Labour councillor has been charged after a probe 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.
It is understood that two of the individuals targeted responded by sending an explicit image of themselves, with the attack described as an attempt at spear phishing, a process where one sends personal and deceptive messages in order to trick recipients.
The charges brought against Mr Steadman by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) include one of blackmail and one of improper use of an electronic communication network against one person.
He has been charged with four other counts of improper use of an electronic communication network against four other people.
Malcolm McHaffie, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) Special Crime Division, said: “We have decided to prosecute Oliver Steadman with blackmail and five communications offences in relation to a total of five victims working within politics and Westminster.
“This follows an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Service which looked into messages that included alleged unsolicited indecent images sent to a number of people within parliamentary political circles between October 2023 and April 2024 using Whatsapp.”
Last year, a high-profile MP William Wragg was suspended by the Conservatives over his role in the scandal.
He admitted giving the phone numbers of colleagues to the scammer after he shared explicit images of himself when they began talking on a dating app.
Mr Wragg told The Times he was “scared” because the man had compromising information on him.
That April, the Met had launched an investigation after “unsolicited messages” were sent to a number of MPs, staffers and political journalists working in Westminster.
It came after Politico reported that political figures had received the unsolicited messages from “Abi” and “Charlie”.
Spear phishing involves scammers pretending to be trusted senders in order to steal personal or sensitive information.
Other senior figures targeted by the honeytrapper included Conservative MP Dr Luke Evans, who said he had received unsolicited explicit images and messages over WhatsApp. It is believed that at least 12 men in political circles received the unsolicited messages.
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