Obstruction of the Highway - Guilty: 04/02/21

Outcome
Court date

Court:

City of London Magistrates

Hearing date:

04/02/21

Bench (DJ or JPs)

DJ Miller

Charged with:

Obstruction of the Highway

Represented by:

John Bryant

Please outline key points in prosecution and defence cases.

Defense argued that the defendant was wrongly charged.  He was originally charged with Section 14 but this was dropped and the defendant charged with obstruction.  The Section 14 was subsequently deemed unlawful anyway, which seems to be the reason that the charge has been changed.

At the time of arrest, obstruction was not mentioned so the defendant could not respond to the charge.  Additionally the defendant had not caused an obstruction as the south side of Trafalgar Square had been closed by the police for 3 days before the arrest on the basis of facilitating safe protest.

It was argued very well but the judge disregarded the defense case on the basis that the defendant had gone there to cause disruption. 

An interesting observation that was not brought up was that at the time he was arrested: people in other parts of Westminster were being told that they could protest in Trafalgar Square.

Was defence evidence submitted in writing?

Yes

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

Yes, he gave his evidence from the witness box.

What was the verdict?

Guilty

What was the sentence?

6 months conditional discharge

What costs were awarded?

£465 costs + £21 surcharge

Please add anything else relevant.