A self-professed 'privileged, white middle class woman' who was arrested outside Parliament while protesting about climate change has been spared jail.
Vanessa 'Nessie' Stevenson, 60, was among thousands of Extinction Rebellion activists who descended on Parliament Square last September, urging the government to prepare for a 'climate crisis'.
The protests saw the routes around Parliament Square blocked by protestors who sat in the road and refused to move.
The gardener, who lives in a £900,000 farmhouse in Derbyshire, was later charged with failing to comply with a condition imposed by the Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner which restricted the location and size of the protests to Parliament Square gardens.
But Ms Stevenson claimed the order interfered with her human rights - including freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention.
She also claimed she was acting out of necessity, with the aim of the so-called 'September Rebellion' protest being to force action on the climate crisis.
Today, Ms Stevenson was given a conditional discharge of 12 months and ordered to pay costs of £362.
Vanessa Stevenson, 60, was among thousands of Extinction Rebellion activists who descended on Parliament Square last September
The gardener, who was later charged with failing to comply with a condition imposed by the Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner, was today spared jail
Jonathan Bryant, prosecuting, told Westminster Magistrates' Court: 'I'm sure you've seen in the news the recent protests by Extinction Rebellion but this case relates to an earlier series of protests which took place last September.
'The focus of these protests was Parliament Square.
'The protest began on 1 September and Assistant Police Commissioner Rolfe had put in place measures to manage the situation on that day.
'On that day, the 1 September, from information the police had it was clear that further protests were planned on 2 September.
'Accordingly, that afternoon, Assistant Commissioner Rolfe put in place further measures for the following day, 2 September.
'These in effect mirrored conditions that had been put in place previously and the conditions were made under Section 14 of the Public Order Act.
'The effect of the order was to place restrictions on the location and timings and on the numbers who could take part in the protest.
'The three conditions were: the protest could only take place on Parliament Square gardens, sometimes referred to as the grassy area of Parliament Square; secondly, the protest could only take place between 8am and 7pm on 2 September; and further the number of protesters in the designated area must be consistent with social distancing.
'On 2 September, with those conditions in place, the four protestors were in Parliament Square.
'They weren't in the designated area and consequently, having been warned by police officers, they were arrested for breaching the conditions of the Section 14 order.
'For each of the defendants I can see one of the issues raised is human rights.
'They say that by imposing this order, and requiring them to leave the site, their human rights under the European Convention, in particular the right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, have been interfered with.
Jason Helms, 47, received a nine month conditional discharge and was also ordered to pay £362 costs
John Balson was given a conditional discharge of 12 months and ordered to pay costs of £362
'The Crown accepts that these rights were being engaged, but of course what we also say is that those rights are qualified - they're not absolute rights.
'They're not a trump card, so simply for them to say that they were exercising their rights of protest and free assembly doesn't mean that the law can be disapplied.'
