Self-styled “Yellow vest” protestor James Goddard fell to his knees as he was spared jail today for calling Anna Soubry MP a “Nazi” during a pro-Brexit protest outside Parliament.
Goddard, 30, harassed the MP during two incidents in December 2018 and January this year, leading a group of demonstrators who surrounded and pursued Ms Soubry as she walked through Westminster.
Wearing a high-vis jacket as a mark of his protest group, Goddard insulted Ms Soubry - a vocal Remain supporter and then still a Tory MP – branding her a “traitor” and “scum” and claiming she was “doing the work of Adolf Hitler”.
Ms Soubry, the MP for Broxtowe who quit the Tories to join Change UK, said the incident on January 7 left her feeling “very shaken” and “disorientated”.
At Westminster magistrates court this afternoon, Goddard, who also admitted racially abusing a Met PC, was given an eight-week prison sentence suspended for a year and ordered to complete 200 hours of community service.
He dropped to his knees and gasped as the sentence was passed, and was also ordered to pay £200 compensation to Ms Soubry, £200 to the PC, and £225 in court costs and fees.
Co-defendant Brian Phillips, 55, who also admitted pursuing Ms Soubry and shouting at her, was sentenced to a four-week prison term suspended for a year, ordered to pay £100 compensation to the MP, £200 in court costs and fees and he is under a 6pm to 5am tagged curfew for the next 12 weeks.
Both pleaded guilty to the charges on Friday, as they were due to stand trial.
“You were like a pack pursuing its prey”, said Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot.
“What is striking from the video is how long this goes on for in a sustained and relentless tirade.”
The judge said Goddard and Phillips both claim they were pursuing a political agenda but “at no time did you seek to engage in debate”.
“You were shouting at her, acting in a bullying manner, and having watched the behaviour it was striking courage Ms Soubry exhibited”, she added.
The first incident happened on December 19 last year, as Parliament debated the future of the Brexit process and Ms Soubry was leading calls for a second referendum.
Goddard is heard on the film telling the MP as she walked past the House of Commons: “We chose to leave two years ago, you are being undemocratic. You are going against the will of the people.
“You are a traitor, you are a disgrace to the Tory party. The way you treat Jacob Rees-Mogg is an utter disgrace.”
Goddard branded her “pretentious”, accusing her of ignoring the voice of 17.4 million people, adding: “You might as well start doing Hitler’s salute now, you Nazi.”
He said: “You don’t have the right to call for a second vote, this is all your fault.
“You are doing the work of Adolf Hitler who wanted a united Europe and no nation states.”
On January 7, the 62-year-old MP was conducting TV interviews which were interrupted by chants of “Soubry is a liar”.
At one point she stopped a BBC interview to say: “I do object to be called a Nazi - this is what’s happened to our country.”
Once she had finished, Goddard and colleagues again pursued and surrounded Ms Soubry as she walked back to Parliament, continuing even when she pointed out a group of schoolchildren were across the road.
During one of the affected TV interviews, to a background of abuse and chants, Ms Soubry complained: “I’ve now got to walk back to Parliament with all of this. Apparently it’s free speech, this is democracy in action and the police are not intervening.”
She added: “This is seriously worrying - these are fascists, some overwhelmingly racist, with no regard for the law.
“Brexit has unleashed these people. This is Britain now, it is not the Britain I know and love.”
Mitigating for Goddard, Dominic Thomas told the court he had suffered stress as a result of the criminal case and suggested Ms Soubry had “made a case of him”, causing problems with his daughter and home.
“He isn’t just a criminal thug as characterised by some”, he said.
Beth O’Reilly, for Phillips, said he is “deeply embarrassed by appearing at this court, and has reflected very carefully on his actions on that day”.
Goddard, from Timperley in Greater Manchester, pleaded guilty causing harassment, alarm, or distress to Ms Soubry, and a racially aggravated public order offence against a black police officer.
He was convicted last month in Manchester for assaulting a photojournalist, and was fined £300 as well as ordered to pay £530 in court costs and fees and £50 compensation to the victim.
Phillips, from Erith in Kent, pleaded guilty to causing harassment, alarm or distress to the MP.
Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot, sitting with magistrates Alexia Featherston-Haugh and Paul Brooks, imposed a restraining order on both men, banning them from contacting Ms Soubry for five years.
They are also prevented from entering the area around Parliament and Downing Street, and going to Ms Soubry’s constituency office.
