from Christian Today
A High Court judge has overturned the conviction of a pro-life campaigner who sent graphic images of abortion to the police and local officials.
David Skinner, 80, was convicted under communications legislation for sending an email containing what the Crown Prosecution Service deemed to be grossly offensive images that were intended to cause distress.
The images were emailed by Mr Skinner, a committed Christian, to senior police officers and local councillors in Dorset in April 2023. They were emailed in response to the introduction of an abortion clinic buffer zone in the town the previous year.
The email contained graphic images of aborted foetuses and other images of the Holocaust, as well as strongly worded objections to the buffer zone and the policing of it.
Mr Skinner was charged under communications legislation and convicted and fined £3,840. He appealed his conviction and in a judgment handed down on Friday in Bournemouth, Mr Justice Saini ruled that upholding the offence would disproportionately interfere with his rights to freedom of expression and religion.
“This is a case about freedom of expression and freedom of religion,” the judge said.
He added, “We do not take away from the offence that the complainants would have experienced on receiving the letter. Nevertheless, we find that it would not be a proportionate interference to allow the conviction.”
Skinner’s conviction was quashed and a defence costs order granted.