Obstruction of the Highway - Not Guilty: 05/01/21

Outcome
Court date

Court:

 

City of London Magistrates’ Court

Hearing date:

 

Tue, 5 Jan 2021

Bench (DJ or JPs)

 

Chief Magistrate: Colin Bateman + 2 others

Charged with:

 

Unlawful Obstruction of Highway on 9th October 2019
(Note: Section 14 charge was not pursued)

Represented by:

 

Jenny Winter (Birds)

Please outline key points in prosecution and defence cases.

 

This trial was held up for over an hour trying, unsuccessfully, to get P.C. Sullivan on video link. She has been injured and was trying to communicate from home.

As the bench had withdrawn and an adjournment was anticipated to fix the problem over lunch, Jenny Winter talked with Matt Barrowcliffe (CPS). She said that the police evidence showed Sophia had been arrested in Horse Guards Parade. She wasn’t, she was in Horse Guards Road. Also, she questioned whether Horse Guards Parade is actually a ‘highway’ in the law.

Matt asked the Clerk of Court to call the Bench back. Jenny looked surprised, as did the Chief Magistrate when Matt asked for the case to be dismissed because the prosecution witness was unable to attend now, and possibly not in the near future.

Was defence evidence submitted in writing?

No

Did defence witness(es) give evidence in person? Were they cross-examined?

N/A

What was the verdict?

Case dismissed

What was the sentence?

No

What costs were awarded?

None

Please add anything else relevant.

Talking to Jenny afterwards, she’s sure that was not the reason. The real reason was the wrong road name, and whether it was a highway. This may affect many other cases, where arrests were on “Horse Guards Parade”.