Egg-throwing extremist shouted ‘Cameron’s bitch’ at Muslim Tory minister is jailed
A protester who yelled ‘Cameron’s Bitch’ as he pelted Britain’s most powerful Muslim woman with eggs during a hate-filled protest was convicted today.
Gavin Reid, 23, was part of a mob who shouted at Baroness Warsi before throwing several eggs in November last year.
The peer, now a Cabinet minister, was left with egg yolk running through her hair after the attack in Luton and had to take cover in a nearby sari shop.
Protesters abused her in Urdu and English saying she was ‘Cameron’s bitch’, ‘Cameron’s prostitute’, ‘a supporter of murderers’ and ‘an unislamic’.
Unbowed: Baroness Warsi was pelted with eggs on a trip to Luton
Some of the group were from outlawed extremist organisation Al-Muhajiroun and accused her of not being a proper Muslim and supporting civilian deaths in Afghanistan.
Reid, from Luton, was sentenced to six weeks in prison at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court after being found guilty of an offence under the Public Order Act.
Gavin Reid 23, ran away after shouting the abuse and throwing the egg but was identified from photos and BBC footage
Magistrate Elizabeth Roscoe said: ‘Throwing eggs goes beyond legitimate political protest and is quite clearly disorderly behaviour and it is also threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour.’
The court heard Baroness Warsi was confronted by a group of men hurling abuse and then hit with eggs. One smashed and soiled her jacket and hair.
She defiantly told protesters: ‘I am not fazed, I am a criminal solicitor from Yorkshire’. The Baroness did not give evidence herself but was described in court as ‘no shrinking violet’.
The district judge told Reid: ‘It was quite clearly you, and that has been conceded, that threw an egg at Baroness Warsi.’
She acknowledged the argument from James Walker – Reid’s lawyer – that prosecutors had to prove his actions had caused ‘harassment, alarm or distress’.
Politicians tend to be ‘reasonably robust’, Miss Roscoe said, adding: ‘There has been no evidence to make me sufficiently sure that she (Baroness Warsi) felt any harassment, alarm or distress.’
But she ruled Reid’s actions did meet the criteria because of the concerns of Janghar Khan, the Conservative member who was also on the trip.
Shaven-headed Reid, who was arrested 15 days after the incident, had denied the charge.
He has already served the sentence during his time on remand since May but remains in custody for other matters.
Lady Warsi, who became minister without portfolio in May, is the first female Muslim Cabinet minister.
The Dewsbury-born former solicitor replaced Eric Pickles as chair of the Tory party after the General Election.
Mohammed Abbasi 