Ladies who smashed HSBC's windows let off

[Cotty]

Ok im not sure I am understanding the outcome of this.
Nine women from Extinction Rebellion turn up at HSBC's building in Canary Wharf with hammers. They are filmed smashing the toughened glass windows and placing stickers on the windows. They sat on the ground and were arrested at the scene. Should be an open and shut case.

However all denied criminal damage and they were cleared of the charge by a jury today. Anyone care to explain how they got off without even a slap on the wrists.

https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2023/11/16/jury-fin...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12757677/...

[V8covin]

Apparently it's ok to cause damage,which they admitted ,if you're protesting.
That was their argument and the jury agreed.
Mental

[Jamescrs]

A three week trial in itself for a criminal damage seems very unusual.

You can never truly predict what a jury is going to do in court, and I am not aware that they have to provide any rationale for their decisions. The defendants obviously found a jury sympathetic to their cause.

[bitchstewie]

Jamescrs said:

A three week trial in itself for a criminal damage seems very unusual.

You can never truly predict what a jury is going to do in court, and I am not aware that they have to provide any rationale for their decisions. The defendants obviously found a jury sympathetic to their cause.

I think it's basically this.

Shades of the Colston statue trial.

Sometimes a jury will return a perverse verdict.

[Earthdweller]

Crown court in inner London with a jury drawn from inner London ..

I might imagine that had that gone to an out of town court then the jury’s decision might have been somewhat different

When I worked in east London, part of the ground went to the Essex courts and half to east London

We used to get huge battles from defence briefs trying to say we had the postcode of the wrong!

Epping mags, Chelmsford crown or even Norwich crown … or east London mags and Snaresbrook

I was told at one point SNCC was running an 90% acquittal rate

[markymarkthree]

V8covin said:

Apparently it's ok to cause damage,which they admitted ,if you're protesting.
That was their argument and the jury agreed.
Mental

England is fkED.

[C5_Steve]

That's pretty staggering as there have been several cases already this year for exactly the same thing with the defendants found guilty and sentenced.

Wouldn't be surprised to see this appealed as the cost sounds even larger than the other ones already dealt with.

[Cotty]

V8covin said:

Apparently it's ok to cause damage,which they admitted ,if you're protesting.
That was their argument and the jury agreed.
Mental

I agree its nuts. Sally Hobson, prosecuting said it was "unlawful conduct outside of a lawful protest". but they still got off. Sets a worrying precedent.

[LivLL]

Can the buildings insurance company still go after them for the costs of the damage?

Also, all banks should use this as an opportunity to not take their custom - ie de-bank them.

Vandal said:

Reid said: ‘I have said from the beginning that I did this to stop HSBC from killing children

Edited by LivLL on Thursday 16th November 16:49

[S600BSB]

Love the fact that the 9 defendants were dressed by Stella McCartney! Classy.

[BikeBikeBIke]

Jury Nullification.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification

[Cotty]

LivLL said:

Can the buildings insurance company still go after them for the costs of the damage?

Having dealt with claims for windows almost the same value I would love to be sitting at the table to hear that conversation. On one hand once the insurers have paid out they can subrogate against the perpetrators, however how do you proceed as the ladies have been cleared of criminal damage.

Also HSBC may think that would reflect badly from a reputational standpoint and either negotiate with the insurance company not to proceed or swallow the cost of the windows themselves.

[Rufus Stone]

Cotty said:

Ok im not sure I am understanding the outcome of this.
Nine women from Extinction Rebellion turn up at HSBC's building in Canary Wharf with hammers. They are filmed smashing the toughened glass windows and placing stickers on the windows. They sat on the ground and were arrested at the scene. Should be an open and shut case.

However all denied criminal damage and they were cleared of the charge by a jury today. Anyone care to explain how they got off without even a slap on the wrists.

https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2023/11/16/jury-fin...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12757677/...

People detest banks more than they do climate change protesters.

[Tommo87]

I’m guessing a few career criminals will be ‘beating’ a path to that particular Barristers door.

[robsa]

Maybe it's because they were women; there is a gender disparity in sentencing between males and females in UK justice system isn't there?

[Vanden Saab]

It would be interesting to see if the jurors would be so understanding if it were their windows that had been smashed.

[LivLL]

Cotty said:

LivLL said:

Can the buildings insurance company still go after them for the costs of the damage?

Having dealt with claims for windows almost the same value I would love to be sitting at the table to hear that conversation. On one hand once the insurers have paid out they can subrogate against the perpetrators, however how do you proceed as the ladies have been cleared of criminal damage.

Also HSBC may think that would reflect badly from a reputational standpoint and either negotiate with the insurance company not to proceed or swallow the cost of the windows themselves.

£500k is a big pill to swallow, maybe they need to invest in some more growth oil companies to get the money back instead.

[CT05 Nose Cone]

For any local scrotes reading this, next time you decide to smash up a bus stop, just claim you're protesting climate change.

[98elise]

Mad verdict. How can you openly commit a crime, and be found not guilty?

[S600BSB]

Need to refer to VAR