There follows a guest post by Andrew Rootsey, the solicitor acting for Debbie Hicks, an anti-lockdown protestor. Debbie is hoping to appeal two recent conviction to the High Court, but needs to raise £10,000 to do so. You can find her DonorBox fundraiser here.
As you may recall, we secured Debbie’s acquittal at Cheltenham Magistrates Court on the December 20th 2021 for offences relating to organising/being involved in organising a gathering of more than 30 people during a period of national lockdown or alternatively for participating in the gathering.
The relevant gathering was a protest held in Stratford Park in Stroud in November 2020 against the restrictions imposed on the British public under the Coronavirus Regulations. The protest was called the ‘Freedom Rally’ and was attended by more than 50 people.
The Stroud ‘Freedom Rally’ was held two days into the second national lockdown and therefore at the time it was illegal to organise a gathering of more than 30 people or to meet in groups of more than two people. A conviction would have left her liable for a £10,000 fine.
Ms. Hicks was acquitted of both offences after the court accepted our argument that her arrest and prosecution was a disproportionate interference with her human rights – namely the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, given that she was engaging in a legitimate protest.
The court found that Ms. Hicks had organised the ‘Freedom Rally’ and had breached the Coronavirus Regulations in force at the time by doing so. However, she had a reasonable excuse because she was attending a legitimate, peaceful and well-organised protest. The officers on the ground at the protest had been labouring under a misapprehension of the law – that protesting was not lawful under the Regulations – and were essentially imposing a blanket ban on protesting. Therefore, their actions in arresting her were not rational or proportionate.
In complete contrast – and a perfect example of how this contentious piece of legislation is flawed and open to misinterpretation – on the November 16th 2021 the City of London Magistrates Court convicted Debbie of breaching similar coronavirus regulations by protesting in Hyde Park against the imposition of lockdown restrictions during the pandemic. The District Judge in this case found that Debbie did not have a ‘reasonable excuse’ for protesting and found that the interference with her Human Rights was proportionate. Debbie was convicted and sentenced to a financial penalty.
The case raises important issues on freedom of expression and assembly, as well as the chilling of the right to protest. We wish to appeal this case to the High Court in order for the High Court to settle the important questions of law raised.
A fundamental consideration for the High Court is the ambiguity of the right to protest during the Coronavirus pandemic during periods of national lockdown and the operation of the ‘reasonable excuse’ jurisdiction in this regard.
The Government has made it clear, as have the courts, including in Debbie’s case before the Cheltenham Magistrates Court, that protesting during the Coronavirus pandemic was never illegal. Yet that was not always clear from the Coronavirus regulations nor was it the understanding of most police officers. How the reasonable excuse defence is to operate in these circumstances requires clarity and we are confident that the High Court will settle the issue in our favour and set a precedent for future cases and those seeking to appeal against their own convictions.
Debbie Hicks is probably best known for filming within the Gloucester Royal Hospital in December 2020 during Tier 3 restrictions. Debbie did so, exercising her freedom of expression, in order to highlight that Government restrictions were having a devastating effect upon access to healthcare across the board and to investigate mainstream media reports that hospitals were overflowing with patients.
Despite her efforts to avoid confrontation, she was challenged at the hospital by two employees. During the exchange, which lasted less than a minute, Debbie did not film the staff members. She explained the purpose of her visit and her views as to the provision of NHS services during lockdown. Staff members took offence at her comments and subsequently made a complaint to the police. Debbie immediately left the hospital voluntarily and was subsequently arrested at her home in front of her family and charged with using abusive, threatening or disorderly words or behaviour.
Debbie was not at the hospital deliberately seeking an encounter with staff. She has in the past been a vociferous supporter of the NHS and has supported NHS staff in respect of vaccine mandates.
In connection with this episode, Debbie stood trial for an offence under Section 5 of Public Order Act on January 6th 2022 and having adjourned the case in order to hand down his judgement the District Judge convicted Debbie of a S5 Public Order Act offence on January 19th 2022 at Cirencester Magistrates Court.
We wish to appeal this conviction as well and ask that the High Court settle this case on the basis that the District Judge was wrong in law to convict Debbie of this offence. We are firmly of the view that the Prosecution case simply did not cross the threshold of what constitutes abusive, threatening or disorderly words or behaviour. The District Judge’s analysis was flawed and did not properly interpret Supreme Court authorities nor give appropriate weight to Debbie’s rights of freedom of expression and assembly as enshrined in the European Convention for Human Rights, nor give appropriate weight to the political nature of Debbie’s views when the case law makes clear political freedom of expression should be given special protection.
Debbie is trying to raise £10,000 to take both cases to the High Court. She hopes that those who continue to believe in freedom of speech and the the right to protest will continue to support her. Our hope is that if we can get these convictions overturned, it will set a legal precedent for those convicted of similar offences and who may face prosecution in the future.
Debbie needs to raise funds in order to pay her legal costs and any help is hugely appreciated. Her fundraiser can be found here.
Andrew Rootsey is a solicitor at Murray Hughman.
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Excellent article by Nick Rendell— vitally important, because the next “Plandemic” will be bird flu, which was added to ordinary flu vaccines in 2009, “accidentally” non-radiated, as doctors discussed with Alex Jones of Infowars 14 years ago.
Please see the following two links, if you can access The Telegraph article from 2008. The 2009 Infowars interview has been reposted by Alex Jones now.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/2235676/Homeless-people-die-after-bird-flu-vaccine-trial-in-Poland.html
https://www.infowars.com/posts/avian-influenza-added-to-flu-vaccine-in-2009/
Listening just now to the audio taped 2009 Infowars interview, they also said NATO went to Thailand and forcibly injected pregnant Thai women three times with tetanus jabs (when only one is needed), and their babies died. They also described eight US troops being vaccinated experimentally together and dying, and that more troops were dying from inoculations than from gunfire.
Tetanus jabs (to which they said live viruses have been added) are often given after dog bites. Is that why the government has done so little to protect the public, not even requiring dogs to be muzzled in public spaces? And Michael Gove requiring all tenants to be allowed to keep dogs, and forbidding landlords from preventing it?
“When you inject live viruses into the bloodstream [instead of muscle tissue], you bypass the critical part of the immune system. And vaccines, in fact, cause all auto-immune diseases, non-traumatic seizures, cancer and genetic problems.”
(Sorry not NATO, of course, but the UN, the audiotape said. Too late to edit. I was trying to type and listen at the same time, but I’m not very good at multi-tasking.)
Please listen to this Danish Professor talking about live virus vaccines and mRNA injections. She argues that the study showed that live virus vaccines reduced mortality for not only the target disease but for other pathogens. But she could also see some vaccines were worse and caused mortality. Unfortunately the modern Pharmaceutical industry has poisoned the ‘well’ with their blatant attempts to make ‘vaccines’ mandatory for the entire planet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_nKoybyMGg
Danish professor: mRNA vaccine study sends ‘danger signals’
Thanks for that link, which I’ll check out later.
Just now at the end of the Infowars 2009 audio taped interview, was this shocker:
“Putting the bird flu virus in with the regular flu is actually what’s going to make the mutation happen to create the hybrid, that’s going to allow the bird flu to infect the human. And this is self-evident… in my book, entitled “The Biology of Aggression”, and that’s all about the Rabies virus.
“They are now also putting Rabies virus into many human vaccines. There are many movies out now that actually illustrate this. “Quarantine” is the best, because in “Quarantine” they actually admit that the Rabies virus is what’s making these people become ghouls. This is going to get even worse, folks, and this is being done intentionally.”
At the end of the 2009 audio taped interview, they said that RABIES Virus was also being put into human vaccines.
From what I remember there is no treatment for Rabies. I think it was the documentary series ;Monsters Inside Me where they told the tragic story of a child getting Rabies then going into a coma.
Yes, you are right, though when I looked it up on the NHS England website just now, they said this:
” Although there is no cure for rabies once symptoms develop, post-exposure treatment (i.e. rabies vaccine with or without rabies immunoglobulin) is highly effective in preventing disease if given correctly and promptly after exposure.”
Personally, I don’t believe viruses exist, but are just manifestations of a toxin, bacterial or fungal infection; however, I’m not a medic, so what do I know?
Two very obvious points that must be borne in mind:
Fraser Nelson likes to keep a foot in both camps but always errs toward the establishment.
Rod Liddle is very good at engaging gob before brain.
I remember in 2020 when he criticised people resisting the mask mandates saying….Is this really the hill you want to die on. As if you can comply your way out of tyranny.
Exactly
The hard evidence is rolling in thick and fast now. Woefully under educated Ministers and Civil Servants got taken for a ride by Big Pharma, aided and abetted by Gates of Hell during his visits to No.10 in 2020. The timing of Event 201 was also ‘quite remarkable’.
Our Govt spent £450 billion on removing human rights, promoting mRNA therapies and virtue signalling. The proper course of action was to do absolutely nothing, except encourage everyone to boost their natural immune systems as best they could. No profit in that of course. (Any yes, I was saying this in Mar 2020 as my long suffering family can testify).
“Woefully under educated Ministers and Civil Servants got taken for a ride by Big Pharma”
No way. I will never accept this because it provides the perps with the “not me guv” excuse. It falls in to cock-up theory and the C1984 was definitely no cock-up.
In fact there are no excuses for even the most stupid MP’s of the time. Those in the decision-making brigade knew exactly what they were up to and the backbenchers owed it to themselves and their constituents to educate themselves about what was really going on. They did not do that.
By May 2020 I had worked out we were being scammed and so had thousands of others across the country. I joined Lockdown Sceptics in September 2020 and it was a few months up and running by then and The Conservative Woman was about 5 / 6 years old by that time. The Scamdemic information was out there very early. Nobody within cycling distance of Westminster has any right to claim ignorance.
The proper course of action was for MP’s to do the bloody job we pay them for – find the truth. They failed. Once they had found the information, information that I had secured by May 2020 lets not forget, MP’s were duty bound to bring the government down.
They failed to a point of treason.
There are no excuses.
Never Forget. Never Forgive.
I don’t disagree with your conclusions at all.
FWIW, I think the Scientific Advisors (Witless, Unbalanced etc) bear more responsibility than anyone, although the Johnson and Hancock were utterly appalling.
Also 3 cheers for LDS and TCW!
Three Cheers for Lockdown Sceptics, Yes!
But NOT for TCW The Maryolater Woman Hypocrite who boasts about “Defending Freedom”, while denying Freedom of Speech to anyone daring to criticise Maryolatry on her “Defending Freedom” website, banning and blocking them like a Jesuit.
She also appears to be using Toby Young’s website to continually draw attention to her own, attempting to control and dominate the comments section of every article on Toby’s website, instead of sticking to her own.
In contrast, it is TOBY YOUNG’S FREE SPEECH UNION and THE DAILY SCEPTIC that are genuinely, steadfastly and courageously “Defending Freedom”.
As mentioned above, in the election campaigns Lockdowns, jabs etc were a minor blip. It was Brexit and Truss wot done it FFS.
The article repeatedly mentions something called “covid deaths”. I am aware of “official” figures that were based on people who died within a certain period of a “positive Covid test”. I presume that is the meaning of “covid death” intended in this article. I can’t take that seriously – it’s a meaningless figure. All-cause mortality is the only game in town.
I agree tof.
“Covid deaths” is meaningless because in some jurisdictions all deaths were recorded as covid. And even if tests were conducted they were done using the discredited PCR which was never intended to be used as a diagnostic tool.
It’s a bit like testing waste water by drinking it – guaranteed to get a result.
“Covid deaths” are a complete nonsense.
Number of “Covid deaths” where “Covid” was the only cause of death recorded was a small fraction of the headline number
Also the shoving of a thin stick up people’s noses, in some cases has caused harm.
When my mother died, the GP had hardly visited so he put “suspected stroke” on her death certificate – I suspect many death certificates are best guesses. All-cause mortality is indeed the only game in town.
Indeed. I think the rules for death certs were changed for “covid” but even then I think the “official” stats for “covid-only” deaths were negligible.
“During part of the winter of 2021-22 the U.K. experienced its last period where Covid accounted for more than 10% of all-cause deaths. ”
Well well. If they count like they were told to in the worldwide ruse by the CDC (Cull for Disease Control) in America only 6% of that 10% were Bioweapon Only deaths. But since we now have millions of deaths by Bioweapon Cure, they have mixed things up good. According to plan.
The most blindingly obvious factor for me is that the first Death Jab, in the UK, was released on 2nd December 2020 almost a year since the Scam began. So why weren’t people dying in their millions between January and December? Why were the bodies not piled in the streets?
It certainly wasn’t masks because they were deemed not necessary until Whitless and Bankballance did a screeching u-turn after Incarceration I. It wasn’t anti-social, society destroying distancing either.
It always did scream lie from day one with Chinese people doing cringeworthy pratfalls. My favourite was the Dead Person Falls on Floor and Puts Hands Out To Prevent Bashing Face sketch.
https://www.vaxcontrolgroup.com/
My research shows that the biggest control group, and they must continue to say NO to bioweapon cures, is Africa – the Billion strong smoking gun.
https://worldyturnings.com/2022/12/20/is-africa-the-covid-smoking-gun-part-2/
And we should not loose sight of any other reported side-effects.