Court:
|
City of London Magistrates’ – Court 3 |
Hearing date:
|
Tuesday, 15th June 2021 |
Bench (DJ or JPs)
|
Dep DJ Ms. Davies |
Charged with:
|
Breached S14 on 2/9/2020 at Parliament Square |
Represented by:
|
Susan Wright, instructed by Birds |
Please outline key points in prosecution and defence cases.
|
They went for the ‘Continuous S14’ challenge. They said that the rebellion was an ongoing action, so the existing S14 was still valid. Any new S14 for Day#2 should only have been raised by the senior police office on site, not the senior police officer who was off site. For this, they had to prove an overnight action. A group, including Archbishop R, walked down from Buckingham Palace to Parliament Square Gardens. Three of them stayed the night there in prayer vigil, praying for the CEE Bill to be read the next day. They arrived by 1900hrs and left when protesters were arriving the next morning at 0800hrs. The bench agreed with CPS and A.C. Rolfe that XR, in their ‘Action Plan’ had split their rebellion into days, describing what would happen between 0800 and 1900hrs. each day. They saw the prayer vigil as an unscheduled event, not in the Action Plan, carried out as a random action. No arrests were made because they prayed in Parliament Square Gardens, the assigned protest area. |
Was defence evidence submitted in writing?
|
Yes |
Did defence witness(es) give evidence in person? Were they cross-examined? |
The defendant (in person), Rev H and Rev B over cvp. All were cross-examined. |
What was the verdict,
|
Guilty 9 mths c/d; £775 costs; £22 v/s |
Charge
Outcome
Court date