Police say they are taking no further action following the death of railway ticket officer Belly Mujinga because “there is no evidence of anyone spitting” in an incident at London’s Victoria Station ahead of her death.
The 47-year-old died of Covid-19 on April 5. It was alleged that two weeks before this, she was spat on while at work by a man who claimed to have the virus.
But in a statement, British Transport Police said: “We want to be clear on why we decided not to take any further action – based on key witness statements and having reviewed the CCTV footage, there is no evidence of anyone spitting in this incident.
“Senior detectives are confident that this incident did not lead to Belly Mujinga contracting Covid-19.
“This is because the man in the CCTV footage who detectives interviewed as part of the investigation had a negative antibody test result for Covid-19 in the time after the incident, therefore showing that he had never had the illness.
“The man’s test did not relate to the BTP investigation – he was tested as part of his occupation and the test results were shared with us during the investigation.”
Mujinga’s husband Lusamba Gode Katalay described the news that police would not be taking any further action as “disappointing”.
He said: “We had never thought a prosecution was likely, but it was disappointing to get that news. We are not pursuing a prosecution. We are instead calling for her employer to take action to protect their workers.
“There are important things we need answers to. Her union, the TSSA, reported it to Her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate (the health and safety body of the Office for Road and Rail), and that investigation into the safety of Belly’s workplace is still ongoing. Hopefully that will answer questions like why she was out working on the concourse at all given that she had a respiratory health issue.
“We also think that all key workers like Belly should be covered by the government’s NHS compensation scheme.
“The money can’t bring her back or take away our pain, but it would be recognition of the sacrifice that all key workers have made to help our country through this pandemic.”
Mujinga’s employers, Southern Railway, said it followed all of the latest government health advice, which it said has not advised that railway workers need to wear personal protective equipment.
“More recently, the travelling public has been advised to wear a face covering to help prevent spread. To support our people, we in turn, have now provided masks to our frontline workers, which we initiated at the point at which the official advice was updated,” said a spokesman.