PROSECUTORS have succeeded in overturning an “unduly lenient” sentence given to an environmental campaigner previously convicted of damaging the Stone of Destiny.
Catriona Roberts, 22, was admonished in March this year for her role in a protest at a UK Government building in Edinburgh.
Roberts, of Glasgow, was told she’d face no further penalty other than a criminal record following proceedings at the sheriff court in the Scottish capital.
She was convicted of committing on charges of breach of the peace and malicious mischief for her role in the protest at the Queen Elizabeth House in the city’s Sibbald Walk
Activists spread red paint on the building and scaled the facade of the facility in a pro-Palestinian protest.
They then removed the Union flag from the roof and replaced it with a Palestinian one.
Specialist police officers were forced to attend the building to remove the protestors who scaled the facility with ropes.
Prosecutors also say that the taxpayer had to fork out more than £9000 to remove the paint from the building.
Roberts had to be “debonded” from a door at the building having earlier glued herself to it.
The protest also caused an International Women’s Day conference which was due to be held at the building to be cancelled.
Summary Sheriff John Cook admonished Roberts in March this year.
But prosecutors believed the sentence was unduly lenient and went to the Sheriff Appeal Court to overturn the sentence.
On Tuesday, Advocate Depute Liam Ewing KC told the court that Sheriff Cook failed to properly consider the seriousness of Ms Roberts’s actions.
Appeal Sheriffs Iain Fleming and Robert Fife and their colleague Sheriff Principal Gillian Wade KC upheld the Crown submissions - and imposed 100 hours of community service on Roberts.
Sheriff Principal Wade, who delivered the finding of the court, said: “In order to bring the protest to an end a number of emergency services were engaged including security personnel, the police and trained police rope specialists.
“An area of the building was cordoned off due to safety concerns, and the specialist officers removed the protesters from the roof.
“Other officers used a debonding agent on the respondent's hand in order to remove her. An event which was due to take place at the building had to be cancelled and considerable expense was incurred in removing paint from the building.
“The respondent was at the time on bail for an analogous offence and had a previous conviction which differentiated her from a co accused who was also convicted after trial.
“In our view the sheriff has erred in his assessment that the respondent's culpability was low, and the harm caused limited.
“Having regard to the extent of the disruption , the dangers inherent on person climbing onto the roof and the effective disabling of the access to the building through the front door for two days was more than de minimus.
“The respondent had also to be physically de-bonded from the door.
“In our view the sheriff's failure to attach due weight to these factors, led him to impose a sentence which was not just lenient but unduly so.
“He imposed a sentence which falls outside the range of sentences which a Sheriff at first instance, applying his mind to all the relevant factors, could reasonably have considered appropriate.
“He has placed weight on the conscientious motivation of the protest and the age of the respondent but in our view has failed to appropriately balance these factors with the culpability exhibited.”
Roberts and a co-accused called Jamie Priest previously admitted damaging a glass cabinet containing the Crown of Scotland and the Stone of Destiny at Edinburgh Castle following another hearing at the sheriff court.
The pair targeted the cabinet during a protest against food poverty.
The duo were charged with damaging the cabinet and breaching the peace following the protest along with a third person, Joe Madden, 22, who was absent from court.
Priest and Roberts, both from Glasgow, admitted the charge of maliciously causing damage during the court hearing.
Both pled not guilty to the charge of breaching the peace, which was accepted by the Crown.
Historic Environment Scotland said at the time some damage was caused to the protective glass housing the relics. The protest was understood to be linked to the campaign group This Is Rigged, which released a statement at the time saying: "Food is a human right. Hunger is a political choice."
Roberts was part of a This Is Rigged group at the UK Government building.
It said it targeted the UK Government building because ministers were “complicit” in the conflict in Gaza.
Roberts said: “As long as the UK Government refuses to call for a ceasefire, we will continue to call ‘not in Scotland’s name’.
“As Palestine is bombed, burned and starved, this Government is complicit.
“I cannot emphasise enough the importance of screaming out into the world that we will not abide genocide.”
On Thursday, Ewing told the court that Sheriff Cook hadn’t properly assessed the circumstances of the offence.
He added: “In summary, I say that the sheriff has erred in his assessment of the culpability of the respondent and his assessment of the harm caused.
“He failed to give proper account to the respondent’s previous conviction and the fact that the respondent was on bail at the time.
“It resulted in him imposing a sentence that was not only lenient but unduly so.”
Roberts told the court that she was a “law-abiding citizen outside of protest” and was studying at Strathclyde University.
But she said her participation in the demo was an “act of desperation” with regard to what was happening in Gaza.
She added: “I’m also under the age of 26 – the sentencing guidelines on young people apply in my case.”
The sheriffs then ordered her to perform the unpaid work which is to be completed in six months.
