Woman Arrested for Silent Prayer Outside Abortion Clinic Wins £13,000 Payout
A Christian charity volunteer has bagged a £13,000 payout and an apology from the police, who admitted that her arrest for silently praying outside an abortion clinic was not only unjust but also a breach of her human rights. The Mail has more.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce issued a claim against West Midlands Police for two wrongful arrests and false imprisonments; assault and battery in relation to an intrusive search of her person; and for a breach of her human rights in 2022 and 2023.
Ms. Vaughan-Spruce was first arrested in November 2022 for praying in a ‘buffer zone’ outside the BPAS Robert Clinic in Kings Norton, Birmingham.
Just weeks after she was found not guilty by Birmingham Magistrates Court, she was arrested a second time for silently praying outside the same clinic in February 2023.
Officers from West Midlands Police told her at the time that “engaging in prayer” was “the offence” after she insisted she was “not protesting”.
But Police later said “there will be no further investigation” into the incident and apologised to her.
Now, Ms. Vaughan-Spruce, who is the Director of anti-abortion group March for Life U.K., has received a £13,000 payout after pursuing a claim against West Midlands Police.
It comes just days after reports the Government is considering formally criminalising silent prayer outside abortion clinics, with new legislation set to come into force.
Lord Frost, a former Conservative Cabinet minister, has said that if the reports are correct, “then not just freedom of speech, but freedom of thought will be under threat”.
Speaking about Ms. Vaughan-Spruce’s case, Lord Frost said: “It is incredible that people have been arrested for thoughtcrime in modern Britain. I am very glad Ms. Vaughan-Spruce has received compensation for her unjust arrest for this so-called offence.”
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
How much Police and court time was wasted on this crap, and how many people were stabbed during the time this crap was underway?
Oh, the stabbings don’t matter – we must crack down on Thoughtcrime (even if it is silent thoughtcrime).
Dear God.
‘Silent thoughtcrime’. Is there any other kind of thought?
The idea that she has ‘bagged’ a ‘payout’ is all a bit tabloid, isn’t it?
I mean, this woman was unlawfully arrested, her human rights were breached, how much is that worth?
In the eyes of the woke elite – nothing at all.
I definitely agree. My guess is that March for Life U.K. has just received a significant donation.
Far more than the paltry payment she got.
That is good news!
It’s excellent news.
It’s actually bad news because it’s West Midland police using our money (they have none of their own) to make this complaint go away while remaining committed to continue to act in the way they did as they “settled that […] without any admission of liability.”
A person might be ‘beaming’ their prayers subversively at an abortion clinic from 20 miles away.
What is the state to do? Deploy detector vans of the sort the BBC used to advertise in its bit of kidology? Sinister operator in the back of a vehicle festooned with electronics and twiddling a dial like a naval rating sonar operator on a Second World War destroyer: “We can tell what Mrs Fortescue-Smythe is praying at 39 Primrose Gardens, Chalfont St Latimer…yes…yes…for world peace, a lottery win, relief from gall stones…”
Based on prior experience, I’ll tell you what the state will do. It won’t create Prayer Detector Vans nor electropsychometers. It will create an NGO which employs experts who claim to be able to detect praying going on. These will be similar to (or even the same people as) the ones who already testify in court in cases of “Risk Of Satanic Ritual Abuse”. These self-appointed, self-regulated “experts” record videos of people (especially children) carrying out normal day-to-day activities, and then claim to see that the videos show “indicants of risk of abuse” that nobody else can see (because the other people are not experts, you see). This is sufficient to ensure a conviction. All that Starmer has to do is replace “SRA” with “Prayer”: the rest of the machinery is already in place in the courts. I think the technique originated with or even before the Spanish Inquisition.
Then we form an NGO that detects false psychics.
I’m pleased for this lady as it was obviously totally unjust what happened to her. As long as people aren’t waving placards and screaming at everybody that goes in and out of the building then they’re easy to ignore and if that’s what she wants to spend her time doing then let her get on with it. Meanwhile, this is about ‘Operation Early Dawn’, where they release an actual con and an anti-immigration protestor takes their place in prison. 5,500 convicts to be released starting early September. Are people now going to think twice about going on any more protests, ( not to mention posting memes or opinions online! ) and can they be confident that they won’t be wrongfully arrested and banged up as a result? It’s a risk you evidently run when you’re not a blatant, gobby Jew-hating terrorist-supporting jihadist wannabe; ”The government has activated emergency measures to ease prison overcrowding as more rioters are being sentenced for their role in recent unrest. Across the north of England and parts of the midlands, defendants waiting for a court appearance will be kept in police cells until prison space is available. The system, known as Operation Early Dawn, was… Read more »
Starmer just doubling down even more, he’s basically substituting the term ‘far right’ for ‘racist’ now;
”Two-Tier Keir travels to Ireland and calls the locals who speak up about the mass immigration “RACIST”
This man needs to go!!!”
https://x.com/MatchPoiint/status/1825573077473767522
One small victory against totalitarianism.
Whichever officer authorised these arrests should be sacked. It won’t happen of course but it doesn’t make my assertion any less legitimate.
Confession – I do alot of silent praying but I would not admit to telling anyone what I might be praying for. Am I guilty of a crime?
Of course. You wouldn’t pray silently if you didn’t have a very good reason to. Upright muslims never do that!
😀 😀 😀
A member of the public who had been arrested on suspicion of breaching the PSPO subsequently made a civil claim for unlawful arrest, assault and a breach of their human rights. We have now settled that claim without any admission of liability.
Does West Midlands police instead admit gross misuse of public funds by paying someone £13,000 of other people’s money despite the organisation had no reason to fear an actual court case as it most certainly hadn’t done anything wrong?
The practice that public organization can neglect their duties and breach the law to abuse members of the public to their hearts content because they can always resort to taxpayer money to buy themselves out of the embarrasing situation of accidentally encountering someone with a competent lawyer urgently needs to come to an end.
https://order-order.com/2024/08/19/mps-summer-of-concerts-wimbledon-and-footb
Ain’t life grand?
MP’s doing what MP’s gotta do – grifting.
It is impossible to say with 100% certainty that this lady was actually praying at the very moment before she was arrested. Wandering thoughts are a well know ploy of Screwtape (remember him?) to distract people trying to pray. How many people in church find themselves wondering if they remembered to lock the front door, set the timer for the Sunday roast or feed the budgie before leaving home? It was undoubtedly her intention to pray silently but I defy anyone to keep it up continuously. No-one could look at her and know what was really going on in her head. Perhaps she was even thinking: “Rats, here comes that b….y policeman again.”
Is there a legal definition of prayer? If so what is it? and does it mention God? In the past I have been in discussion groups where God and prayer have been discussed. Generally these discussions interesting as they are, raise as many questions as they ever arrive at any answers.
Presumably if there is intended to be a law banning silent prayer, it will have to define prayer, what it is and how it works? Also, if the definition mentions God it will have to define God. I am intrigued to see how UK law can do what so many have, to date, failed to do.
Excellent post 👍
Seeing complications where none exist. People who are silent are obviously praying illegally. It’s up to them to prove they weren’t. Further, oil is certainly going to be burnt and hence, they’re additionally guilty of climate change.
Arguments like his have been made be UK judges already.
Criminalising silent prayer is total bonkers. If the prayer is silent how the hell can it be proven that someone was praying. What next loitering with intent to pray?
Why would any Government even think up such a ridiculous idea? It’s hardly offensive to anyone and, in fact, may be of comfort to some women attending the Clinic. I cannot for the life of me see what is possibly wrong with praying to your God but she is Christian and white. The same would not happen to the right colour and / or the right religion and we all know that is a fact.
The really sad part of this is that it was not taken to Court and followed through to a Guilty verdict. A letter of apology and out of Court settlement simply means someone else will be arrested for the same thing. The injustice against white people and Christians will continue until the Courts order the Police to change. One thing is for certain: the anti-British, anti-Jewish, anti-white Few Peoples Front will make things even worse.
I am not defending the police in any way shape or form, but, why not say you are just thinking about this and that, rather than praying? Possibly she would feel that she was betraying her cause by fibbing – I don’t know. But, if comrade Starmer decides to make silent prayer illegal it would never work, simply because people could make the above excuse. Or does it depend on which part of the deity’s ‘family’ you are appealing to? Would she have been similarly arrested if she had been wearing a hijab?
We have been so gaslit that it’s easy to forget the enormity of what the last government did by including silent praying in buffer zones around abortion clinics. And a majority of MP’s voted for this – actually making prayer (ie thought – silent or otherwise) illegal in certain circumstances.
This is an encouraging victory but it really needs some solid case law to prove to me that wrongthink is not on the way to being outlawed.