Anti-abortion campaigner Isabel Vaughan-Spruce has thrown her support behind fellow campaigner Livia Tossici-Bolt after she was convicted of two buffer zone breaches.
Tossici-Bolt, 64, was accused of breaching the Public Spaces Protection Order on two days in March 2023 after holding a sign outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth.
Tossici-Bolt was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £20,000 after holding a sign outside the clinic's buffer zone - which read "here to talk, if you want".
In a statement outside court today, Tossici-Bolt described her conviction as a "dark day for freedom" in the UK.
Speaking to GB News, Isabel Vaughan-Spruce - who herself was arrested for engaging in "silent prayer" outside an abortion clinic, has hit out at Tossici-Bolt's conviction and claimed that "conversation is being criminalised" in Britain.
She told the People's Channel: "It's really concerning, and I just found it deeply saddening that a consensual conversation on a public street has now been criminalised in a British court.
"She was just simply offering to talk to anyone who wanted to talk to her, and it was only when people approached her that she would engage in any kind of conversation. But she was charged and given a conditional discharge, and also ordered to pay £20,000 for the costs of the prosecution."
Emphasising the growing concerns for censorship and lack of free speech in Britain, Vaughan-Spruce argued that the Labour Government are "resolute" on "destroying this nation's freedoms" in their crackdown on free speech.
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Vaughan-Spruce stated: "I find it particularly frustrating that our friends in the US have already tried to help us see the problems of continuing down this road of censorship, but the authorities seem resolute on destroying our nation's freedoms for the sake of their own ideology.
"Whether it's with council officers or police or even in the judiciary system, it's really concerning."
Reflecting on her own case, Vaughan-Spruce recalled how she was awarded more than £10,000 in a court settlement after the police "continued to falsely arrest her" for silently praying.
She told GB News: "It started right back in 2022, I was arrested in an abortion centre buffer zone in Birmingham for simply silently praying in my head. I was completely acquitted in court, and yet two or three weeks later, I was rearrested for exactly the same thing, for silently praying.
"And for those who say that wasn't the reason, the police officer actually told me that my prayers were an offence. I had no Bible or rosary beads, I had no leaflets, no posters, I wasn't interacting with anyone - yet I was re-arrested again and had to wait six months before that case was dropped."
Revealing how she was forced to take the police to court, she added: "Police were coming out giving me tickets, telling me I was going to be fined and that I was breaching the zone. In the end, I had to make a claim against the police for unlawful arrests, false imprisonment and assault - and I was awarded a court settlement for £13,000.
"I finally thought that was the end of it. But since then, week after week, the police have been coming out, telling me that it isn't my prayers that are now the issue, but just who I am. That knowing who I am means that I'm causing someone else harassment.
"That's particularly concerning, because harassment isn't just banned in abortion centre buffer zones, harassment is rightly banned across the UK anywhere. So if just knowing who I am is causing people harassment, then there's simply nowhere left for me to go in public - am I to stay at home? Is it harassment for people I live with? That's how ludicrous it's becoming."
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Tossici-Bolt, 64, was accused of breaching the Public Spaces Protection Order on two days in March 2023 after holding a sign outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth.
Tossici-Bolt was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £20,000 after holding a sign outside the clinic's buffer zone - which read "here to talk, if you want".
In a statement outside court today, Tossici-Bolt described her conviction as a "dark day for freedom" in the UK.
Speaking to GB News, Isabel Vaughan-Spruce - who herself was arrested for engaging in "silent prayer" outside an abortion clinic, has hit out at Tossici-Bolt's conviction and claimed that "conversation is being criminalised" in Britain.
She told the People's Channel: "It's really concerning, and I just found it deeply saddening that a consensual conversation on a public street has now been criminalised in a British court.
"She was just simply offering to talk to anyone who wanted to talk to her, and it was only when people approached her that she would engage in any kind of conversation. But she was charged and given a conditional discharge, and also ordered to pay £20,000 for the costs of the prosecution."
Emphasising the growing concerns for censorship and lack of free speech in Britain, Vaughan-Spruce argued that the Labour Government are "resolute" on "destroying this nation's freedoms" in their crackdown on free speech.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
- Woman found guilty of 'unfair' buffer zone breach sparks free speech row: 'Dark day for England!'
- Woman in silent prayer row spared jail after breaching 'buffer zone' outside abortion clinic
- Pensioner becomes first person in Scotland to be arrested under abortion buffer zone law
Vaughan-Spruce stated: "I find it particularly frustrating that our friends in the US have already tried to help us see the problems of continuing down this road of censorship, but the authorities seem resolute on destroying our nation's freedoms for the sake of their own ideology.
"Whether it's with council officers or police or even in the judiciary system, it's really concerning."
Reflecting on her own case, Vaughan-Spruce recalled how she was awarded more than £10,000 in a court settlement after the police "continued to falsely arrest her" for silently praying.
She told GB News: "It started right back in 2022, I was arrested in an abortion centre buffer zone in Birmingham for simply silently praying in my head. I was completely acquitted in court, and yet two or three weeks later, I was rearrested for exactly the same thing, for silently praying.
"And for those who say that wasn't the reason, the police officer actually told me that my prayers were an offence. I had no Bible or rosary beads, I had no leaflets, no posters, I wasn't interacting with anyone - yet I was re-arrested again and had to wait six months before that case was dropped."
Revealing how she was forced to take the police to court, she added: "Police were coming out giving me tickets, telling me I was going to be fined and that I was breaching the zone. In the end, I had to make a claim against the police for unlawful arrests, false imprisonment and assault - and I was awarded a court settlement for £13,000.
"I finally thought that was the end of it. But since then, week after week, the police have been coming out, telling me that it isn't my prayers that are now the issue, but just who I am. That knowing who I am means that I'm causing someone else harassment.
"That's particularly concerning, because harassment isn't just banned in abortion centre buffer zones, harassment is rightly banned across the UK anywhere. So if just knowing who I am is causing people harassment, then there's simply nowhere left for me to go in public - am I to stay at home? Is it harassment for people I live with? That's how ludicrous it's becoming."
Find Out More...