Woman arrested for silent prayer outside abortion clinic wins £13k payout
Lord Frost: ‘It is incredible that people have been arrested for thought crime in modern Britain’
A Christian charity volunteer has received a £13,000 payout and apology from police after she claimed her arrest for praying silently outside an abortion clinic was unjust and breached her human rights.
Campaigners including Lord Frost have hailed it as a major victory against censorship but warned that suggestions the Government may ban silent prayer outside abortion clinics would represent an attack on not only free speech but also free thought.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce issued a claim against West Midlands Police for two wrongful arrests and false imprisonments, for assault and battery in relation to an intrusive search and for a breach of her human rights.
She was first arrested in November 2022 for silently praying in a “buffer zone” in streets imposed by local authorities around an abortion clinic in the Kings Norton area of Birmingham.
The Public Spaces Protection Order banned all expressions of “approval or disapproval with respect to issues related to abortion services, by any means” within a large vicinity of the clinic.
Campaigners said Ms Vaughan-Spruce was searched by police including through her hair, arrested, charged and prosecuted – even though she had prayed imperceptibly and not expressed any opinion.
In February 2023, Ms Vaughan-Spruce, was acquitted of all charges at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court after the prosecution were unable to offer evidence to support the charge. ADF UK, a faith-based legal advocacy, supported her legal defence.
Weeks later, she was again arrested for silently praying on a public street within the “buffer zone”. Six police officers attended the scene, with one confirming to her: “You’ve said you’re engaging in prayer, which is the offence”.
A six-month long police investigation ended in charges being dropped and an apology being issued from police regarding the lengthy process.
But, apparently, not for the arrest in the first place. They apologized for taking so long to realize they should never have arrested her at all. Are the police so stupid as to not realize they have criminalized thinking?
The case was closed shortly after Suella Braverman, the then home secretary, confirmed in an open letter to police that silent prayer is “not unlawful”. Ms Vaughan-Spruce has now received the £13,000 payout after issuing her claim against police.
She said: “Silent prayer is not a crime. Nobody should be arrested merely for the thoughts they have in their heads – yet this happened to me twice at the hands of the West Midlands Police, who explicitly told me that ‘prayer is an offence’.
“There is no place for Orwell’s Thought Police in 21st-century Britain, and thanks to legal support I received from ADF UK, I’m delighted that the settlement that I have received today acknowledges that.
“Yet despite this victory, I am deeply concerned that this violation could be repeated at the hands of other police forces. Our culture is shifting towards a clampdown on viewpoint diversity, with Christian thought and prayer increasingly under threat of censorship.”
As the government, police, and media become more and more godless every day, there is greater fear of offending people than there is of offending God. There will be Hell to pay for this madness!
Ministers are expected to review the draft guidance for police which said that “silent prayer” within 150 metres of a clinic or hospital that provides abortion services should not be considered an offence.
However, Lord Frost, a former Conservative Cabinet minister, said: “It is incredible that people have been arrested for thought crime in modern Britain. I am very glad Ms Vaughan-Spruce has received compensation for her unjust arrest for this so-called offence.
“But if a recent report is correct that the Government is considering formally criminalising silent prayer outside abortion centres, then there will be further such cases, and then not just freedom of speech but freedom of thought will be under threat. It is hard to imagine a more absurd and dangerous situation.
“It would be much better to stick to the sensible approach in the previous Home Secretary’s draft guidance, which proposed a much better balance between the various competing rights and interests. If the Government scraps it, then it will be clear to all that its commitment to civil liberties and fundamental freedoms is paper thin.”
Britain to detain suspects in police cells
amid a prison overcrowding crisis after riots
Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Britain implemented emergency measures on Monday to reduce pressure on prisons overflowing from people being sentenced for taking part in, or inciting, riots across England and Northern Ireland at the beginning of the month.
Under the so-called Operation Early Dawn, defendants in northern England who have been arrested by police but who have yet to appear in court will be detained in police station cells until a prison place becomes free -- but critically means delays as they cannot get their day in court unless space is available.
Defendants will only be summoned to a magistrates' court when a space in prison is ready for them.
This means court cases could be delayed, with people kept in police cells or released on bail while they await trial.
The scheme, which was also activated in May by the outgoing Conservative government of Rishi Sunak, will operate in parts of the midlands and the east as well.
The measures would help "manage the pressure felt in some parts of the country," said Prisons Minister Lord James Timpson.
However, Prison Governors' Association Vice President Mark Icke said because the prison system had been "lurching from crisis to crisis for some time" he was not convinced the measures would do much.
Of the more than 1,000 suspects the National Police Chiefs' Council says have been arrested for alleged involvement in violent unrest that broke out a day after three young girls were killed in a July 29 stabbing spree in Southport, at least 100 have already been sent to prison and another 300 have been remanded in custody.
The number of arrests are likely to increase significantly with authorities promising to pursue those involved for "as long as it takes." Along with the policy of refusing bail to many of those awaiting trial or sentencing, credited with deterring further outbreaks of unrest, the extra burden on the system is not expected to ease anytime soon.
Two weeks ago Justice Minister Heidi Alexander, who oversees the courts and legal services, announced 567 additional prison places due to come on stream at the end of August had been "brought forward."
The government had already put plans in place to temporarily reduce the proportion of a sentence most prisoners will serve announcing last month a cut from 50% to 40%, effective Sept. 10, prompted by prisons being at 99% capacity pretty much continuously since January.
Sex and domestic abuse offenders not included in plan
That scheme is expected to see about 5,500 prisoners released in September and October, earlier than they would have been. Sex and domestic abuse offenders and those serving sentences for terrorism and some violent crimes cannot benefit from the plan.
The Midland Circuit which represents almost 1,000 barristers practicing out of more than 100 chambers spread over a wide swath of the middle of England said the use of police cells was a temporary fix that did not address the underlying over-crowding issue.
"We recognize that the government is taking much-needed action, but this is just a sticking plaster for a long-term problem," said circuit leader Michelle Heeley KC.
"Prison cells are no places for criminals to be held, even in the short term, and the wider impact on the system as other cases are potentially pushed back will only add to greater pressure on an overloaded system."
Magistrates and prison guard representatives both expressed concerns about potential delays in the administration of justice in a timely fashion.
Prison Officers' Association National Chair Mark Fairhurtst told the BBC that the policy would lead to "justice delayed" for less serious offenders with the most serious cases being given priority.
Magistrates' Association Chief Executive Tom Franklin warned avoidable delays had negative impacts for all concerned and meant what capacity the legal system did have could not be deployed effectively.
"Every case that is delayed has real-life consequences for victims, witnesses and defendants -- and leads to magistrates and court staff sitting around waiting, rather than administering justice.
"That is a waste of resources, at a time when there are already large backlogs."
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