LONDON: A man arrested after a car crashed into gates at Downing Street, the British prime minister’s London complex, has been remanded in custody on unrelated “indecent images” charges, police said on Saturday.

The 43-year-old was detained at the scene of the collision on Thursday on suspicion of criminal damage and dangerous driving and “has since been released under investigation in relation to this matter,” London’s Metropolitan Police said.

But he was charged with “an unrelated matter of making indecent images of children” and appeared at a London court on Saturday, police added. He was remanded in custody until June 23.

Video footage on Thursday showed a silver car driving at low speed across London’s Whitehall, where many government ministries are located, having emerged from a gated area next to the Ministry of Defence, opposite Downing Street.

It appeared to then mount the footpath and came to a halt after hitting the large metal gates that guard the entrance to Downing Street. Police said there were no injuries reported and the incident is not being treated as “terror-related”. Inquiries into the incident are ongoing, police added.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2023