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Foetus pictures case plea fails | Foetus pictures case plea fails |
(30 minutes later) | |
A 'pro-life' campaigner has failed to have a conviction for sending pictures of aborted foetuses overturned. | A 'pro-life' campaigner has failed to have a conviction for sending pictures of aborted foetuses overturned. |
Veronica Connolly, 50, was convicted in 2005 for sending the pictures to chemists in Solihull, West Midlands, who sold the morning-after pill. | Veronica Connolly, 50, was convicted in 2005 for sending the pictures to chemists in Solihull, West Midlands, who sold the morning-after pill. |
Mrs Connolly, a Roman Catholic from Shard End, Birmingham, claimed her freedom of speech was breached. | |
The High Court said her right to express her views did not justify causing stress and anxiety to others. | The High Court said her right to express her views did not justify causing stress and anxiety to others. |
Religious expression | Religious expression |
Lord Justice Dyson said it had been convincingly shown that Mrs Connolly's conviction was necessary in a democratic society. | Lord Justice Dyson said it had been convincingly shown that Mrs Connolly's conviction was necessary in a democratic society. |
"Her right to express her views about abortion does not justify the distress and anxiety she intended those who received the photographs," he said. | "Her right to express her views about abortion does not justify the distress and anxiety she intended those who received the photographs," he said. |
Mrs Connolly, a grandmother disabled with ME, also said her conviction violated her right to freedom of expression of her religion. | |
She was prosecuted under the 1988 Malicious Communications Act on three charges of sending indecent or grossly offensive pictures for the purpose of causing distress or anxiety. | |
'Public concern issue' | |
The pictures were sent to chemists in Moss and Olton. One woman who saw them broke down in distress as her daughter had recently had a still-birth. | |
Magistrates in Solihull gave her a three-year conditional discharge and ordered her to pay £125 legal costs which increased by £500 when she lost her appeal at Coventry Crown Court. | |
At the High Court her counsel, Paul Diamond, said: "We say this is protected speech of the highest political, social and religious nature relating to an issue of public concern, namely abortion." | |
While Mrs Connolly, a member of the UK Life League, was sorry about the woman who became distressed, she maintained her purposes was not to cause upset but to educate and inform. |
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