Mother who moved Insulate Britain protester with Range Rover admits dangerous driving
Moment was captured on camera by a passer-by
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
A mother has admitted to using her 4x4 Range Rover to try to move an Insulate Britain protester who was blocking the road while she was on the school run.
Sherrilyn Speid, 35, of Grays, Essex, pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving during her appearance at Southend Magistrates’ Court today.
The mother was driving her black Range Rover Sport when she happened across campaigners protesting near the M25 on 13 October last year at about 8.30am.
The moment was captured on camera by a passer-by, the heavily-bleeped footage of which was shown in court.
There were three Insulate Britain members sitting across the road and queues of traffic had accumulated behind them, Ashley Petchey, prosecuting, said.
Ms Speid then stepped out of her vehicle and “remonstrated” with the protestors, the court was told.
The video shows a women telling the activists they must “move out of the way now” and “my son needs to go to school and I need to go to work.”
She adds: “My son is 11 and he needs to go to school.”
Speaking of the dangerous driving count, Mr Petchey said: “It is not an excessive speed as the driver was using the brakes quite heavily. This is done on two occasions. The Range Rover stops very close to the female protester.”
But Mr Petchey added the dangerous driving could have caused injury.
He said: “Clearly this was an incident where there was a risk, even if no injury was caused.”
Another assault charge against Speid, in which it was alleged that Insulate Britain protestor Bethany Mogie had been beaten, was dismissed after the prosecution said it would produce no evidence.
It also said it would ask for £310 in costs and a pre-sentence report was ordered.
Chairman of the magistrates bench, Peter Hoche, unconditionally bailed Speid. She will next appear at Basildon Magistrates Court on 6 May for sentencing.
He also banned Speid from driving by issuing her with an interim driving disqualification.