Thread by @MurrayHughman

1. Andy Rootsey and the superb Hannah Thomas of @2HareCourt have secured another Not Guilty verdict for Human Rights campaigner Debbie Hicks @StroudRedShed.

This is the 2nd acquittal obtained in a series of 3 trials she has faced for protesting during periods of UK lockdown.

2. On the 6th March 2021 Debbie had been politically campaigning in the Richmond area ahead of the London Mayoral elections collecting nomination signatures.

Police ordered her to leave the area and go home.

3. She did not leave and later began to address members of the public via a megaphone protesting that her being forced to leave was an attack upon her right to campaign.

4. She was again directed by Police to leave and was arrested and charged under the Coronavirus Regulations with contravening a direction/failing to comply with a requirement by Police to leave the location and go home without reasonable excuse.

5. Debbie’s trial took place recently at Wimbledon Magistrates Court where we argued that she had a reasonable excuse for breaching the regulations as she was campaigning and later protesting.

6. She was therefore exercising her rights of Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Assembly under the European Convention on Human Rights and the issue of proportionality had to be properly considered.

7. We had obtained disclosure that revealed that a blanket ban was being applied to protesting and campaigning on the 6th March 2021 by the Police.

8. As we have argued in Debbie’s previous cases, Police had been labouring under a misapprehension of the law – that protesting was completely unlawful under the Regulations – Police were incorrect to apply a complete blanket ban on protest.

9. The Judge found that Debbie had indeed been protesting and was exercising her article 10 and 11 ECHR rights at the time of the second direction to leave, the direction she was charged for failing to comply with.

10. He noted that the police did not conduct a proportionality assessment at the time of issuing her the second direction.

The Judge went on to conduct his own assessment of the proportionality of the interference with her human rights by directing her to leave.

11. He determined that the Prosecution had not proved to the requisite standard that she did not have a reasonable excuse for breaching the regulations and found her Not Guilty.

12. This verdict follows her similar recent acquittal before the Cirencester Magistrates Court in December 2021 for protesting during lockdown, when the Court similarly found she had a reasonable excuse for breaching the Regulations when protesting.
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…

13. In both cases, the Police were incorrectly applying a blanket ban on protest whilst coronavirus restrictions were in place.

14. In contrast to the two Not Guilty verdicts, Debbie was convicted in November 2021 at the City of London Magistrates Court for breaching the Coronavirus Regulations when attending a protest in Hyde Park close to speakers’ corner during lockdown.

15. On that occasion the Court ruled Debbie ‘did not’ have a reasonable excuse by breaching the regulations when protesting and that the interference with her human rights ‘was’ proportionate.

16. All 3 cases turn on similar facts, perhaps demonstrating how opaque the law was governing protest during periods of national lockdown.

17. We are seeking to ultimately appeal this conviction and have lodged Judicial Review proceedings before the High Court.

The case is currently at the permission stage of Judicial Review Proceedings.

18. It would not have been possible to fight these cases on numerous fronts nor bring Judicial Review proceedings before the High Court without the generosity of Debbie’s supporters to whom she is forever grateful.

19.We also await a hearing date at the High Court in respect of Debbie’s appeal in relation to her filming and reporting from inside the Gloucester Royal Hospital in December 2020.

More news to follow on the High Court cases as and when it arrives.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…

20. Thanks also to @toadmesiter of @LD_Sceptics and @SpeechUnion for their support in raising awareness of these issues. #FreedomOfExpression #FreedomOfAssembly #Protest #CoronavirusRegulations #DebbieHicks #FreeSpeech

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