Marble-throwing PMQs protester gets suspended prison sentence
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Version 0 of 1. A protester who tried to disrupt prime minister’s questions by throwing marbles at MPs has been given a suspended jail term. Steven Abberley, 28, sparked a security alert during the busy debate on 22 October last year. A loud bang was heard at around 12.30pm but proceedings in the Commons were not disturbed as the marbles hit the glass security screen, Westminster magistrates court heard. Abberley, from Sutton, Surrey, pleaded guilty to using threatening words and behaviour. He also admitted criminal damage after scrawling offensive graffiti on a wall on the parliamentary estate between 6 and 7 May last year. He was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison for the PMQs offence and four weeks for the graffiti. Both sentences were suspended and run concurrently. Mavis Ramkissoon, prosecuting, said of the incident in the public gallery: “Abberley stood up and said, ‘I’m sorry about this, ladies and gentlemen. You fucking wankers, you’re just liars.’ “He produced a cloth bag and threw the contents, glass marbles, at the security screen. It caused shock and distress to members of the public present.” Shouting from the dock, Abberley claimed he did not use the language attributed to him. He said: “Can I just say, for the record, I didn’t call anyone fucking wankers. I called them dishonourable bastards.” The court heard Abberley was arrested shortly after the incident and he also admitted daubing the words “the enemy within” on a wall near the carriage gates at the Palace of Westminster. Abberley accepted full responsibility for his actions and had mental health issues, was unemployed and in debt, the court heard. Speaking again from the dock, after being invited to do so by the judge, Abberley said he was seeking employment, and added: “I feel like my life is wasting away where I’m living. There’s nothing happening for me.” Judge Quentin Purdy said Abberley’s actions in the Commons were not an appropriate way of expressing his political views. He said: “Anyone who chooses to disrupt [proceedings] causes those attending anxiety and distress. It causes people to feel they cannot go to that place. That’s not the way it should be.” Abberley was ordered to pay £500 towards the total damage bill of £2,416, and an £80 victim surcharge. |