A mother who used her Range Rover to try to move an Insulate Britain protester blocking the road while she was on the school run has called her court case a “huge injustice.”
Sherrilyn Speid, 35, of Grays, Essex, pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving during her appearance at Southend Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
The mother was driving her black Range Rover Sport when she happened across campaigners protesting near the M25 on 13 October last year at about 8.30am.
The court was shown a video which sees a women telling the activists they must “move out of the way now” and “my son needs to go to school and I need to go to work.”
Speaking to LBC of the court’s decision, Speid said: “It’s a huge injustice for me. I feel devastated, I feel let down.
“I’ve got no previous convictions, I’ve worked hard my whole life and I literally just wanted to get my son to school.
“He has anxiety, he’s just started Year Seven. I needed to be there for him, to support him.
“He’s had 18 months of school prior to that through the pandemic. Education is really important to me. I just feel very let down.”
She continued to explain how her conviction will cause her insurance premium to increase.
Speid also went on to express her concern about it impacting her business, in which she teachers life skills like setting up bank accounts to young people with learning difficulties.
She said: “I’m not able to drive, I can’t get my son to football now which he enjoys and flourishes at, I can’t take him to school.
“He’s got a really severe leg injury, he’s on crutches today and has had to get on a bus.
“Obviously I’m too scared to even speak my mind at this point because I know the police are not going to be on my side, they’re going to be against me, and I wouldn’t be able to do anything.”
Speid was was driving her son to school when she came across three Insulate Britain members sitting across the road. According to Ashley Petchey, prosecuting, queues of traffic had accumulated behind them.
The driver stepped out of her vehicle and “remonstrated” with the protestors, the court was told.
Speaking of the dangerous driving count, Mr Petchey said: “It is not an excessive speed as the driver was using the brakes quite heavily. This is done on two occasions. The Range Rover stops very close to the female protester.”
But Mr Petchey added the dangerous driving could have caused injury.
He said: “Clearly this was an incident where there was a risk, even if no injury was caused.”
Another assault charge against Speid, in which it was alleged that Insulate Britain protestor Bethany Mogie had been beaten, was dismissed after the prosecution said it would produce no evidence.
It also said it would ask for £310 in costs and a pre-sentence report was ordered.
Chairman of the magistrates bench, Peter Hoche, unconditionally bailed Speid. She will next appear at Basildon Magistrates Court on 6 May for sentencing.
He also banned Speid from driving by issuing her with an interim driving disqualification.
