The terrorism charge against a Kneecap rapper over his ‘support for Hezbollah’ has been dropped after police and prosecutors failed to get the consent of the Attorney General in time, with a judge saying the Crown Prosecution Service had misunderstood the deadline rules. The Telegraph has more.
Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig in November last year.
But the charge of allegedly supporting a proscribed terror organisation was thrown out on Friday on a technicality because Lord Hermer was a day too late in giving permission for the prosecution to go ahead.
The Attorney General is required to approve charges in terror cases where alleged offences relate to other countries. Hezbollah is based in Lebanon.
However, the police only charged Ó hAnnaidh on the day the deadline ran out after being given the green light to do so by the Crown Prosecution Service. By the time they sought the Attorney General’s consent, it was too late and outside the six-month time limit since the alleged offence.
The Chief Magistrate sitting at Woolwich Crown Court ruled it amounted to a technical error in the way the charge against Ó hAnnaidh was brought.
Paul Goldspring, the Chief Magistrate, said in his judgment: “These proceedings were instituted unlawfully and are null.”
The rapper arrived at the court on Friday wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh and a balaclava in the colours of the Irish tricolour.
The Telegraph understands that police went to the CPS for early advice on May 5th, following the alleged offence on November 21st.
On May 19th, officers sought a decision from the CPS on whether they could charge. The following day, it was approved.
Ó hAnnaidh was charged by post the following day, May 21st. However, it was not until May 22nd that the Attorney General was asked for consent.
It is understood this was because the CPS’s interpretation of the Terrorism Act 2020 was that consent for charging was not required contemporaneously but could be obtained after charging.
The Chief Magistrate rejected this interpretation, arguing that consent was needed in order to charge.
Concluding the reasons for his decision, Mr Goldspring added: “I find that these proceedings were not instituted in the correct form, lacking the necessary DPP and AG consent within the six-month statutory time limit set by section 127.
“The time limit requires consent to have been granted at the time or before the issue of the requisition.” …
Michael Bisgrove, prosecuting, told a court previously that permission from the Director of Public Prosecutions and Attorney General was not required until the defendant’s first court appearance and that permission did not need to be sought in order to bring a criminal charge.
Worth reading in full.
What I’d like to know is why did no one mention that the CPS was applying this rule wrongly before? Why has the judicial ‘clarification’ only come just in time to throw out a case against a pro-Palestine protester? Does this not now invalidate all the previous occasions where the CPS did not seek consent before making the charge? Why did the judges on those occasions not spot the erroneous interpretation and throw out the cases? It all seems a tad convenient, don’t you think.
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Of course they got away with it. Government sponsored terrorism is so edgy dahling, don’t you agree?
Was that ‘legal blunder’ an accident or deliberate. I have my doubts.
We have a have a judiciary that is deliberately enabling and protecting law breaking. This Irish and Arab terrorism sympathiser should be banned from entry to the UK. Make his life awkward.
And I demand that all proceedings in English courts be conducted in Medieval English.
It’s fine. It’s not even a surprise.
They are enemies. We don’t recoil in horror when water is wet.
Interesting that this same magistrate Paul Goldspring was disciplined for expressing support for the Palestinian cause in another case:
Chief Magistrate disciplined for ‘worthy cause’ comment to Hamas supporter – Jewish News
“Senior District Judge slapped down by Lord Chancellor for ‘Palestine’ comments to man who wore terror T-shirt in Jewish area”
“The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) has “issued formal advice” to a senior judge after he “gave the impression that he endorsed” the Palestinian cause in one of his judgements.”
Then again, what else can we expect when a Catholic IRA Terrorist supporter & Deputy Leader of Terrorist Sinn Fein has been given charge of Northern Ireland, which she pointedly refers to as “The North of Ireland”.
The cutesy little blonde face of Catholic Terrorism, following in the footsteps of her father.
Is this a similar plan to clear Northern Ireland of Protestants, in a “From the River to the Sea” campaign?
You know, from the River Bann to the Irish Sea, for example?
I hope Israel will recognize Northern Ireland as an Independent Protestant State, since Starmer (not the British People) is going to recognize Gaza as an Independent Muslim State.
Fair’s fair, after all…
Sounds like gross incompetence, and all the responsible parties should be fired.
Must be a new meaning of the word ‘early’ that I hadn’t come across before.
FFS!
Aha! Got ‘im!
Indecent exposure!
“after police and prosecutors failed to get the consent of the Attorney General in time”
So, who was dragging their feet on this? The police and prosecutors, or the AG… or both?
I’m reminded or Ernest the Policeman in Toytown (I had to look the details up). Always threatening to take someone’s name and address.
Nice, so the bastards running our legal system, all heirs to Blair, can continue to pursue aged ex-soldiers for dubious offences from over fifty years ago, while the terrorists run around with their get out of jail free letters from Bliar and at the same time they are not competent enough to prosecute this lot, or maybe they are deliberately incompetent to avoid seeing fellow travellers in court.
Yes, and now they want to put War Criminal Blair in charge of Gaza !!!???
Scots Patriot Leo Kearse was right to say we really are living in a “Clown World”.
“Legal Blunder” 🤣
A traitor at the CPS! How could that have happened? Do you think it’s ever happened before? (Sarc)
Shameless.
No longer even pretending.
Deliberate.
Another case of two tier judgments.
It is glaringly deliberate. The enemy is inside the walls.
I am sure the Attorney General has intervened in various ways, over the last century to derail prosecutions which might be politically embarrassing. Two obvious ones are John Bodkin Adams in the 1950s to Katharine Gun in 2004. Malice or incompetence?
The names of a traitors will be remembered. They won’t get away with their crimes when the Great Civil War comes along.
But why the almost six months delay. Was this deliberate?
More tiers than a royal wedding cake!
Yes, this guy vocally supports terrorism, but it’s the nice, approved, correct, righteous type of terrorism.