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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Offending a person on social media |
Sentence: |
"£1,000 in court costs & £21 victim surcharge" |
Years Imprisoned: |
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Year Crime: |
2019 |
Year Convicted: |
2020 |
Year Cleared: |
2020 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
United Kingdom |
County or Region of Crime: |
England |
City of Crime: |
St Albans |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Katherine Elizabeth Scottow (aka Kate Scottow) was wrongly convicted on February 14, 2020 of violating the UK's Communications Act for online calling a biological male who is a transexual activist, a male. Scottow also referred to the activist as a "pig in a wig." Scottow is the mother of two in St Albans, England. On December 1, 2018, after the activist complained to police she was making offending comments about him on the Internet. In February 2019 Scottow was arrested in front of her young children at her home, and detained in a cell for seven hours before her release, but her cellphone and laptop computer were held for more than two months by the police investigating the complaint. She was charged in August 2019 and prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service under a section of the Communications Act that criminalizes “persistently making use of a public electronic communications network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another." Lawyer and transexual activist Stephanie Hayden is biologically a man -- and Scottow called him/her a man during an argument. However, Hayden is legally a woman under a gender certificate obtained in 2017. District judge Margaret Dodds found Scottow guilty of annoying Hayden by calling him a man on social media. Scottow's punishment was being ordered to pay £21 victim surcharge and £1,000 in court costs over a six month period. Scottow appealed. On December 16, 2020 a two-judge panel of the UK's Divisional Court of the High Court quashed Scottow's conviction on the basis she had not committed a crime, but engaged in legally protected speech online. Mr Justice Warby stated in the court's ruling: “The [trial] Judge appears to have considered that a criminal conviction was merited for acts of unkindness and calling others names." However, "A prosecution under section 127(2)c [of the Communications Act] for online speech is plainly an interference by the state with the defendant’s Convention right to freedom of expression.” The court ruled that if the case had “been approached by the [original] Judge in a legally correct manner, it should have been dismissed.” After the ruling, Scottow told a reporter for The Telegraph (London) newspaper, “Women fighting for their rights against an aggressive LGBT lobby have been silenced for the past three years. I hope this judgment gives them hope."" |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On December 16, 2020 a two-judge panel of the UK's Divisional Court of the High Court quashed Scottow's conviction on the basis she had not committed a crime, but engaged in legally protected speech online. Mr Justice Warby stated in the court's ruling: “The [trial] Judge appears to have considered that a criminal conviction was merited for acts of unkindness and calling others names." However, "A prosecution under section 127(2)c [of the Communications Act] for online speech is plainly an interference by the state with the defendant’s Convention right to freedom of expression.”" |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
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Age When Released: |
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Sex: |
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Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"Katherine Elizabeth Scottow vs. Crown Prosecution Service [2020] EWHC 3421 (Admin) (Case No. CO/3202/2020 (High Ct. of Justice, Queen's Bench Div., Divisional Court, Dec. 16, 2020 (Quashing conviction as a matter of law because no crime had been committed.)" |
Information Location 1: |
https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Scottow-v-CPS-judgment-161220.pdf |
Information Source 2: |
"People must have the 'right to offend' without facing a police investigation," By Camilla Tominey (staff), The Telegraph (London), December 17, 2020" |
Information Location 2: |
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/17/exclusive-people-must-have-right-offend-without-facing-police/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1608236377 |
Information Source 3: |
"Free Speech Victory: Judges Rule Social Media Users Have Right to Offend, By Jack Montgomery, Breitbart.com, December 18, 2020" |
Information Location 3: |
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/12/18/free-speech-victory-judges-rule-social-media-users-have-right-to-offend/ |
Information Source 4: |
"Mum-of-two who branded a transgender woman a ‘pig in a wig’ is convicted of sending offensive tweets, By Ellie Iorizzo, The Sun, February 14, 2020" |
Information Location 4: |
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10967156/mum-branded-transgender-woman-a-pig/ |
Information Source 5: |
"Mum arrested in front of her kids for calling transgender woman a man is hauled to court for trolling, By Ellie Cambridge and Mark Hodge, The Sun (London), September 1, 2019" |
Information Location 5: |
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9839255/mum-transgender-woman-man-court-trolling/ |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org