Far-right leader walks free from court after conviction for refusing to hand his phone passcode over to police
- Reference: 1590068591
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/21/paul_golding_britain_first_phone_pin_police_conviction/
- Source link:
Paul Golding was arrested in October 2019 after accusing counter-terror police of abusing their powers to target him as he returned from a series of meetings with Russian politicians.
The 38-year-old was interrogated for nearly three hours, having been threatened with arrest if he did not voluntarily comply – only to be arrested at 1.43am the following morning when the interview ended, as [1]reported by Court News UK .
He told police: "I don't think think you have any grounds to suspect me of terrorism in any way, shape or form."
Crown prosecutor Samuel Main told Westminster Magistrates' Court on 19 May "the noises [Golding] made about abuses of power were a wilful attempt to camouflage his disobedience".
PC Rory O'Connor, a borders constable with the Metropolitan Police, testified in court: "[Golding] asked if he was going to be detained and I told him yes and if he failed to co-operate he was potentially liable to be arrested."
Golding had travelled to Russia to meet people from an organisation named in court as the Liberal Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) of Russia. He told police the party was "not liberal like the Lib Dems in the UK, they're nationalist and right wing like Le Pen and Trump". The Encyclopaedia Britannica lists it under its entry for neofascism and [2]also described it as "ultranationalist and xenophobic".
Britain First itself was formed by former members of the openly racist British National Party (BNP) and made a name for itself in the mid-2010s standing as an anti-Muslim political party. It made no electoral headway despite contesting a number of seats in various local and by-elections around the country.
When he gave a no-comment interview to police after his arrest, cops demanded the PIN to Golding's phone. They did so under the controversial [3]Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 . Schedule 7 allows police to demand passwords, PIN codes and so on to electronic devices, in a piece of legal interpretation trickery that criminalises anyone who "wilfully obstructs, or seeks to frustrate, a search or examination".
Britain First's leader refused to hand over his PIN, his barrister Abigail Bright told the court, because he was worried about giving police personal details of Britain First's members.
The Chief Magistrate of England and Wales, Emma Arbuthnot, however, found that the interview was perfectly legal, as was the police demand for the PIN. Summing up the case, she said: "He did not say at any point he was not giving the PIN codes because of a concern for members. I find at the time of the stop he was warned over and over he would be committing an offence. He took a decision not to provide the PIN and I find this was a wilful obstruction."
"In the circumstances," concluded the judge, "the case is proved."
Golding, of Hodder Bank, Stockport, denied but was convicted of failing to provide police with an accurate PIN and handed a nine-month conditional discharge.
Schedule 7 is a fertile ground for police wanting to score effortless criminal convictions against persons of interest to them. In 2017 a former British soldier who wanted to travel to the Middle East and join the fight against the Islamic State was [4]convicted of the same "terrorism" offence as Golding in precisely the same circumstances. That same year a director of a controversial pressure group which described British Muslim terrorist "Jihadi John" as a "beautiful young man" was also convicted and fined of an offence under clause 18(1)(c) of Schedule 7.
Schedule 7 was also the law abused to target David Miranda, a courier for (and partner of) Snowden leaks journalist Glenn Greenwald. Miranda passed through Heathrow carrying Snowden-derived material and was forced to hand it all over to British police. Courts [5]later held that part of Schedule 7 was incompatible with EU human rights law, though they did not uphold any other parts of Miranda's legal complaints against the British State. ®
[1] https://courtnewsuk.co.uk/far-right-leader-walks-free-claiming-he-was-the-victim-of-fascist-onslaught/
[2] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Liberal-Democratic-Party-of-Russia
[3] http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/11/schedule/7
[4] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/01/05/ex_soldier_terrorist_offence_not_revealing_iphone_pin/
[5] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/19/court_of_appeal_dismisses_david_miranda_appeal_greenwald_snowden_echr/
Re: Would never have happened in my day
Sadly that's now grounds for sacking. Which is a fucking travesty: If membership of a legal political party should be a barrier for serving as a police officer then that restriction should apply to all political parties, not just the ones the establishment fear.
Not that it helped, the BNP merely reformed as Britain First and officers are allowed to join that. Just as they can join the Labour party despite its track record of racism.
It was an anti-democratic move then and it continues to be now.
Re: Would never have happened in my day
Although I agree with the sentiment that just being a member of a political party should not be grpunds for dismissal; being a racist is (and should be) grounds for dismissal.
Re: Would never have happened in my day
The problem is what qualifies as "racism" these days can be something as bland as discussing the rate of immigration in the UK. The word hardly has a useful meaning any more.
Re: Would never have happened in my day
Tricky to claim you are an impartial upholder of the law if the political party you belong to calls for a "final solution" to certain groups you might be policing.
I suspect the reason for the ban. The police don't mind being a racist in the police, but if you wear a badge saying so then defence lawyers will get every case against an ethnic suspect thrown out
Of course the same should apply to any member of the police belonging to a religion (except possibly Buddhist/ FSM).
Re: Would never have happened in my day
My comment stands in the general sense.
Attacking someone by accusing them of being a racist/nazi/fascist/anti-semite/far right extremist, then getting them "cancelled" is the sport de jour these days, regardless of the veracity of the claim.
Just ask Tommy Robinson, to whom if we had only listened, we might have prevented the torture and rape of thousands of children by rape gangs in the UK. But apparently all we need to know about him is that he is a far-right extremist, send them all back 'ome, dyed in the wool fascist.
Re: Would never have happened in my day
I look forward to you writing to the Metropolitan Police then, inviting them to dismiss all members of the racist Metropolitan Black Police Association.
Even the BNP didn't* exclude people for having the wrong colour skin.
*as far as I know, but I'll admit I'm not entirely familiar with their recruitment policies
" He told police: "I don't think think you have any grounds to suspect me of terrorism in any way, shape or form." "
He should've been detained under the mental health act then, as he's quite clearly not of sound mind.
I'm assuming he is white - since when do the police suspect anybody white of terrorism?
Since 1968, since you ask. What colour skin do you think the Irish have?
You mean that black Irishmen aren’t black? Shock. Horror.
Are you suggesting that the 1.7% of Northern Ireland that isn't classified at 'White' were the source of all Irish terrorism? Even the racists aren't that silly.
>What colour skin do you think the Irish have?
But since the GFA was negotiated we know they weren't terrorists - we don't negotiate with terrorists.
I think official policy is now that the IRA were merely Irish folk music enthusiasts that were misunderstood.
Yup, it is as credible as the Paras explanation for Bloody Sunday.
And the moral of this story is ...
Always take a different phone with you when travelling abroad that is devoid of any information you don't want the filth (police) to obtain under this oppressive piece of legislation
Re: And the moral of this story is ...
Exactly this. With a disposable SIM too.
Re: And the moral of this story is ...
The police would already have had all the information on his fellow racists (sorry 'members'), he had something else that they probably already knew he had.
Not that I am in support of warrantless searches - but I highly doubt he is an innocent man protecting his friends
Re: And the moral of this story is ...
The thing about human rights and freedoms is that in order to work they must apply to people you don't like or agree with just the same as it applies to those who you do agree with. Saying that rights should not apply to people we believe are racist is just as bad as saying that they shouldn't apply to people with dark skin.
Re: And the moral of this story is ...
I bet you wouldn't call them "filth" if they turned up to tell you about the death of a loved one with compassion and professionalism as we've experienced recently.
Sure, there are bad apples in any organisation but the vast majority are doing the best they can under difficult circumstances.
Re: And the moral of this story is ...
Yes because if nothing else the stay-at-home enforcement has taught us that the average copper is a reasonable person and not at all a power crazed tyrant
Re: And the moral of this story is ...
You're right, it has. The media and public outrage at the power crazed tyrants in the police shows how little we're used to such behaviour; we just don't normally see it. People are shocked and disappointed to find that not all police officers are reasonable, sensible and doing a good job.
Re: And the moral of this story is ...
Or nice white middle class people now experienced the police in the same way as a black teenager - and didn't like it.
Re: And the moral of this story is ...
@Evil Harry
Why is the “bad apples” homily so rarely completed? “One bad apple can spoil the entire lot.” And that is a big problem with the police force - the protection of their colleagues means that the bad apples are not removed. I know it’s human nature to want to protect “your own”, but given the powers the police wield, bad apples *really* need to be removed.
Re: And the moral of this story is ...
If they vast majority of police were doing the best they can the first thing they would do is rat out all the bad apples and get rid of them,
Therefore I can only assume they arent doing the best they can.
Re: And the moral of this story is ...
... he's dumber than dumb. What kind of idiot in his environment tries to walk through the border with all that information on his phone?
Re: And the moral of this story is ...
At least he didn't try and use someone else's passport. Like his illegal alien mate Yaxley-Lennon.
These crims should be stripped of the Queen's passports.
Hmmm. If he had been a left wing extremist entering the US, we'd be hearing an outcry about the abuse of his rights.
I'm sure if you listen in the "right" forums you'll find the same argument about this case too.
The Daily Mail is hot on the case.
He should be grateful he's British
If he was Russian and going on an equivalently unfavourable trip to meet anti-Putin, pro-freedom of speech activists, he'd disappear for 9 months in the company of the FSB until he provided an accurate PIN or Touch ID finger. He should be grateful he got off so lightly.
Re: He should be grateful he's British
That's why you must never criticise the government of this free country in anyway - because "you wouldn't be allowed to say that in Russia"
British Rule of Law
If Paul Golding doesn't like our Great British laws he should **** off somewhere else.
Re: British Rule of Law
c/o The Daily Thump
https://newsthump.com/2020/05/21/if-you-dont-like-obeying-our-laws-then-you-should-get-out-of-our-country-britain-firsts-paul-golding-told/
Less succinctly but in an amusing way.
Astonishing that he is still a far right person
This should have been a lesson to him that it is foolish to foster far right ideas.
Thinking I may have to clarify: even the treatment he experienced is “far right”
because he was worried about giving police personal details of Britain First's members.
If he thinks that they don't already know then he is stoopider than he seems.
Would never have happened in my day
In the 80s the police arresting him would also have been members of the BNP