A Catholic MP today criticised magistrates for convicting an British Army veteran for praying outside an abortion clinic.
Adam Smith-Connor was found guilty at Bournemouth Magistrates’ Court of violating a so-called buffer zone around an abortion clinic.
Although he was praying silently, the court ruled that he had manifested “disapproval of abortion” by clasping his hands and bowing his head.
Magistrates imposed a conditional discharge of two years and ordered Mr Smith-Connor to pay prosecution costs of £9,000.
Afterwards, Sir Edward Leigh, the <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/diary-by-sir-edward-leigh-life-in-parliament-as-a-traditional-catholic/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Conservative MP for Gainsborough and a Catholic</mark></a>, denounced the conviction.
He said: “It is disgraceful that in Britain in 2024 someone can be put on trial for praying silently in his head.
“Unfortunately we have seen repeated cases of free speech under threat in the UK when it comes to the expression of Christian beliefs.
“To offer a prayer silently in the depths of your heart cannot be an offence. The Government must clarify urgently that freedom of thought is protected as a basic human right.”
Mr Smith-Connor also expressed his dismay that a court “has decided that certain thoughts – silent thoughts – can be illegal in the United Kingdom”.
He said: “That cannot be right. All I did was pray to God, in the privacy of my own mind – and yet I stand convicted as a criminal.
He continued: “I served for 20 years in the army reserves, including a tour in Afghanistan, to protect the fundamental freedoms that this country is built upon.
“I continue that spirit of service as a health care professional and church volunteer. It troubles me greatly to see our freedoms eroded to the extent that thought-crimes are now being prosecuted in the UK.”
Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF UK, the Christian legal organisation which assisted Mr Smith-Connor, said the ruling was “a legal turning point of immense proportions” because it represented the first conviction of a Christian for thought-crime in the UK in modern times.
“A man has been convicted today because of the content of his thoughts – his prayers to God – on the public streets of England,” he said after the hearing.
“We can hardly sink any lower in our neglect of basic fundamental freedoms of free speech and thought.
“We will look closely at the judgment and are considering options to appeal. Human rights are for all people – no matter their view on abortion.”
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council spent £90,000 prosecuting Mr Smith-Connor after he was questioned by police officers on the “nature of his prayers” outside the facility in November 2022.
During the trial, the defence contended that the defendant’s prayerful thoughts and the fact that he held certain beliefs and opinions could not in themselves amount to a crime, particularly when he stood peacefully and silently on a public street.
Mr Smith-Connor did not outwardly manifest his prayer by kneeling, speaking or holding any signs. He made every effort to be out of the line of sight of the abortion facility, positioned behind a tree with his back to the facility and did not engage with any other person, the defence lawyers told the court.
The council was one of just five local authorities to independently implement buffer zones around abortion clinics, threatening a maximum penalty of £1,000 to anyone who harasses clients or staff or stages a public protest.
The UK Government, however, has decided to impose buffer zones around all abortion clinics in England and Wales from the end of this month, a move which the bishops of England and Wales have described as “unnecessary and disproportionate”.
The new legislation, contained in section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023, criminalises a range of activities within a 150-metre perimeter of an abortion facility.
Such activities potentially include prayer, thought, peaceful presence, consensual communication and offers of practical support to women in vulnerable situations, should any of these be <mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/blow-to-uk-pro-life-movement-as-silent-prayer-at-abortion-clinics-again-faces-ban/">deemed to influence or interfere with access</a> </mark>to the clinic.
Auxiliary Bishop John Sherrington of Westminster, the Lead Bishop for Life Issues, said: “This would represent, in effect, a new form of discrimination and authoritarianism.
“By legislating for and implementing so-called ‘safe access zones’, the UK Government has taken an unnecessary and disproportionate step backwards in the protection of religious and civic freedoms in England and Wales.”
Last month, police paid £13,000 in compensation to a Catholic woman who was wrongfully arrested for praying silently outside an abortion clinic.
West Midlands Police conceded claims of two wrongful arrests of Isabel Vaughan-Spruce along with false imprisonments, assault and battery in relation to an intrusive search, a breach of her human rights and the onerous bail conditions they imposed on her.
The award was hailed by ADF UK, which also supported Ms Vaughan-Spruce, as a major victory for freedom of speech in the first “thought-crime” case in the UK for hundreds of years.
Ms Vaughan-Spruce 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...Our culture is shifting towards a clamp down on viewpoint diversity, with Christian thought and prayer increasingly under threat of censorship.”
After Ms Vaughan-Spruce’s mistreatment, former Conservative Home Secretary Suella Braverman wrote to every police force to clarify that silent prayer was not a criminal offence.
<em>Photo: Adam Smith-Connor (right) along with Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF UK, outside the court house. (Credit: ADF UK.)</em>
