Law and religion round-up – 2nd October

Criminal damage to the Colston statue: AG’s reference

On 28 September 2022, the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) handed down judgment in Attorney General’s Reference No. 1 of 2022 [2022] EWCA Crim 1259 on three questions of law which arose in the trial in Bristol Crown Court of four defendant protestors for allegations of criminal damage to a statue of the English merchant Edward Colston on 7 June 2020. They addressed one of the defences pleaded: that a conviction for damage to the statue would have been a disproportionate interference with the defendants’ Convention rights under Articles 9, 10 and 11 ECHR.

The Appeal Court judgment does not affect the outcome in the Colston case, Continue reading