The Court of Appeal has ruled that people who rely on a defence citing their own human rights in criminal damage trials can only do so if what they damage is of low value - in a case sparked by the acquittal of the Colston 4 in Bristol earlier this year.
The former Attorney General Suella Braverman, now the Home Secretary, brought the case to the Court of Appeal after the four Colston statue topplers were acquitted in January, asking senior judges to clarify a point of the law that the case raised.
The clarification today, cited as ‘disappointing’ and ‘worrying’ by human rights watchdog Liberty, does not affect the acquittal of the Colston 4 retrospectively, but one legal expert said that the four might have been convicted if the ruling had been made before the trial.
