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| Six Weeks For Throwing Eggs At Lady Warsi |
30-Jul-10
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| Convicted of disorderly behaviour under Public Order Act towards Conservative party co-chairman... |
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A 23-year-old man found guilty of throwing eggs at a Tory peer has been jailed for six weeks today.
Lady Warsi, now co-chairman of the Conservative party, was visiting Luton last November when she was attacked.
Gavin Reid, of Luton, was found guilty at City of Westminster magistrates court of an offence under the Public Order Act.
District Judge Elizabeth Roscoe said: "Throwing eggs goes beyond legitimate political protest and is quite clearly disorderly behaviour and it is also threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour."
The court heard Warsi was confronted by a group of men who hurled abuse and she was then targeted with eggs – one of which smashed and soiled her jacket and hair.
Then Shadow Minister for community cohesion and social action, she was touring the Bury Park area with an election candidate when the incident happened on 30 November.
Roscoe told Reid: "It was quite clearly you, and that has been conceded, that threw an egg at Lady Warsi." But she acknowledged the argument made by James Walker, representing Reid, that to be found guilty of the offence, prosecutors had to prove his actions had caused "harassment, alarm or distress".
Warsi, who did not give evidence in the trial, was described as "no shrinking violet" after the court heard she told the protesters: "I am not fazed. I am a criminal solicitor from Yorkshire."
Politicians tend to be "reasonably robust", Roscoe said, adding: "There has been no evidence to make me sufficiently sure that she (Warsi) felt any harassment, alarm or distress."
The District Judge said that in the wider context of the incident, she concluded Reid's actions did meet the criteria in relation to concerns felt by Janghar Khan, a Conservative member who accompanied Warsi on the visit.
Roscoe said Reid had already served the sentence during his time on remand since May. He remains in custody on other matters.
Warsi, who became Minister without Portfolio in May, is the first female Muslim cabinet minister.
The Dewsbury-born former solicitor replaced Eric Pickles as co-chairman of the Tory party, with Andrew Feldman, after the General Election.
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| © Guardian Unlimited 2010 |
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