A protester at the “Kill the Bill” demonstration in Bristol last year has been found guilty of arson, after footage showed her pushing a bin towards a burning police car.
While more than a dozen demonstrators are reported to have so far been convicted after pleading guilty to the offence of rioting, Jasmine York was acquitted of the charge at Bristol Crown Court – despite prosecutors’ claims that she had been “an instigator” of the disorder on the 21 March.
The 26-year-old had attended a vigil for Sarah Everard earlier that afternoon, but later joined crowds marching to Bridewell police station to protest the government’s controversial and now partly-defanged Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
As tensions between police and demonstrators boiled over, the station was attacked and patrol cars were set alight, with casualties sustained on both sides. Avon and Somerset Police were later forced to retract a claim that two officers suffered broken bones.
With the demonstration condemned by home secretary Priti Patel and Bristol mayor Marvin Rees, at least 42 protesters have been charged with offences and 14 reportedly handed prison sentences – with at least 18 more trials scheduled to take place over the next five months.
York, who was bitten by a police dog and struck multiple times with police batons, faced two charges – of riot, and arson which was reckless as to whether life was endangered.
While she was acquitted of both charges at Bristol Crown Court on Monday, the jury found her guilty of an alternative, lesser charge of arson.
The court had been shown footage of her helping to push a bin towards a burning police car, seemingly to add fuel to the blaze – but she denied this, saying she had been seeking to use the bin as a barricade and “absolutely not” as fuel.
Prosecutor Sarah Regan told the court last week: “You were shouting to those police, ‘We will burn your f****** cars’. That’s actually what you were doing, you were burning the f****** cars.”
The prosecution had sought to allege that York was a “leader and an instigator” of the disorder, after allegedly leading the crowd in chants of “ACAB”, which stands for “all cops are b******s”, – and “f*** the f****** feds”.
While York accepted that she had been “a bit rude” to the police, she maintained in deleted messages sent to a friend’s phone – recovered by prosecutors – that she had not done anything “illegal”.
Despite saying in one voice note on 26 March that she was “worried” and “fully anticipating a knock on the door from the feds”, she added that she was glad she went to the protest because “change doesn't come from sitting at home doing nothing”, the jury heard.
York told the court last week that she decided to remain at the protest after hearing speeches warning about what the policing bill entailed, and was reported as saying: “I thought [Sarah Everard] had been let down by a police officer, and the thought of the police having more power scared me. I thought it was the right thing to do.”
In court, York denied wrongdoing, claiming she had placed herself between the crowd and officers because she knew she would not retaliate in the face of police violence, and said she had filmed the protest for the safety of others.
“I’ve been taught not to respond to violence with violence so I am quite a good person to have around - especially as it was quite a young crowd there,” she told the court.
The charge of riot, which carries a maximum charge of 10 years, is rarely used in British law, but 14 of those present at the demonstration have so far been jailed after pleading guilty to it, according to the Bristol Cable.
York is reportedly the first of the demonstrators to be acquitted of the charge, and is the second to go before a jury, after 25-year-old Ryan Roberts was sentenced to 14 years in prison for convictions including rioting and attempted arson with intent to endanger life.
Her solicitor, Freya Colvin, told the paper: “We are delighted that Jasmine has been acquitted of the most serious charges against her. The past year has been an incredible strain on her. As the jury heard, she herself received several injuries after being hit by police batons and bitten by a dog. We are now focused on preparing for her sentencing hearing in March.”
Following the conviction, defence lawyer Russell Fraser said the defendant was prescribed medication for emotionally unstable personality disorder, and asked for probation and psychiatric reports to the prepared.
Judge James Patrick ordered the reports and released York, of Paintworks, Arnos Vale, on unconditional bail until she is sentenced on 14 March.
“A custodial sentence remains a possibility,” he said. “Please co-operate with probation and the psychiatrist. If there are no reports on 14 March and it is your fault, I will sentence you without.”
Meanwhile, the government faces having to draw up new legislation in order to bring in the “draconian” protest laws backed by Priti Patel, following a series of humiliating defeats over their inclusion in the policing bill in the House of Lords last month.
Additional reporting by PA
