Court: |
City of London Magistrates’ – Court 2 |
---|---|
Hearing date: |
27th January 2021 |
Bench (DJ or JPs) |
Lay Bench |
Charged with: |
Section 14 on Victoria St. on Westminster on 3rd September 2020 |
Represented by: |
Ms. Jenny Winter (Birds) - she couldn’t attend CPS: Robert Simpson |
Please outline key points in prosecution and defence cases. |
The defendant had recently moved from Glasgow to London and didn’t receive the trial hearing date. Jenny Winter was only told of the trial hearing date this morning but she was in another court, so couldn’t attend. She requested an adjournment. This was refused, even though the case was reserved to take a whole day. Prosecution called Superintendent Joseph MacDonald, he appeared on video. He gave evidence on the setting of the Section 14 on 3rd Sep 2020 on Victoria St. He was on site with 75 officers under his command when he was told of a lorry, painted pink, with XR banners over it, blocking Victoria St, with protesters glued or locked on to the vehicle. This was causing a traffic jam. He sent officers to explain to the protesters that they must move on or be arrested. He told them to protest at Parliament Square Gardens which was nearby and was good to protest near Parliament House. The disruption had now become serious. He did not complete the form (submitted as item JPM1) immediately, not required – he completed it later that day. Prosecution then called P.C. Bradshaw, who attended. He gave evidence of the arrest using footage from his Body Worn camera. He did say he used the 5-stage arrest procedure, but we could not see if he used the allotted time before arresting him – the bench watched the footage directly on the CPS laptop. The defendant was locked on at the front of the lorry. The defendant was sent to Charing Cross Police Station. |
Was defence evidence submitted in writing? |
No |
Did defence witness(es) give evidence in person? Were they cross-examined? |
None |
What was the verdict? |
Guilty |
What was the sentence? |
9 months Conditional Discharge |
What costs were awarded? |
£300 (as requested by CPS) plus £21 Victim Surcharge = £321 |
Please add anything else relevant. |
Although the defendant’s excuse for not attending may have seemed weak, his representative could not attend either. Consequently there was no-one present to defend the charge. I was amazed that the case went ahead in the absence of a defence. |
Charge
Outcome
Court date