BIRMINGHAM (ADF UK) – New footage obtained by ADF UK shows a West Midlands Police officer demand charitable volunteer Isabel Vaughan-Spruce to leave a public area because of what she is known to believe – despite her simply standing alone, praying silently, without undertaking any actions.
The footage shows the police officer explain that he believes Isabel’s “mere presence” may constitute “harassment, alarm and distress”, given that she is known to have pro-life beliefs and belong to a pro-life organisation. He thus concluded that she was breaching the rules of the “buffer zone” – an area within 150m of an abortion facility.
However, the buffer zone legislation does not single out individuals to ban from the area for their beliefs, but rather prohibits behaviours amounting to “intimidation”, “harassment”, or “influencing a person’s decision to access” an abortion facility.
With support from ADF UK, Vaughan-Spruce has written to police to ask for clarification that a person’s mere presence does not amount to a criminal offence.
The incident took place despite West Midlands Police previously issuing an apology and a payout of £13,000 for breaching Vaughan-Spruce’s human rights on two prior occasions where they arrested her for praying silently in the same “buffer zone”.
