A swarm of snap-hungry hacks gathered below the steps of Birmingham Magistrates’ Court last Thursday as two people exited the building after being acquitted of all charges.
The individuals in question, pro-life activist Isabel Vaughan-Spruce and Catholic priest Father Sean Gough were not, in fact, criminal masterminds. The pair had instead been facing respective criminal charges for praying silently outside abortion clinics. In Fr Gough’s case, the clinic was closed, and he was also harangued by police over a sticker on his parked vehicle, and asked if he thought passers-by might find his cassock “intimidating”?