Paul Goldspring, who is also a senior district judge, acquitted a man accused of attacking the former Conservative Party leader by “slamming” a traffic cone into his head and two other protesters who allegedly threatened and abused Sir Iain. Tory MPs were “surprised” by the decision which they said sent a message that politicians were now “fair game”. A senior MP said: “Apparently you can now walk down the street screaming abuse at a politician and your right to protest trumps their right not to be bullied. No matter how threatening the protesters’ behavior is, no action will be taken against them.”
The protester’s behavior was ‘reasonable’
Mr Goldspring said the case against two of the protesters centered on using the phrase “Tory scum” as they followed Sir Iain and two women down Portland Street, Manchester. The chief judge said the use of that phrase in the context of targeting Sir Iain as they followed him was “offensive and derogatory and I do not accept that was not their intention”. However, he accepted that this behavior was “reasonable” in the context of Articles 10 and 11 of the Human Rights Act: the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and association. He said: “Courts do not criminalize free speech. The Crown has not shown me that it is appropriate to criminalize those words.”
