British police pay £13,000 to Christian woman arrested for silent prayer

CNA Newsroom, August 19, 2024 / 11:19 a.m.

West Midlands Police has paid £13,000 (about $16,800) in compensation to Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a Christian volunteer who was arrested twice for praying silently near an abortion clinic in Birmingham, England.

The deal comes as the British government reportedly looks set to tighten rules on silent prayer near abortion facilities, explicitly designating it as “criminal” in upcoming nationwide “buffer zone” legislation.

Vaughan-Spruce, the director of March for Life UK, was first arrested in December 2022 for praying silently in a public space protection area (PSPO) outside a closed abortion facility.

The PSPO prohibits “protesting or engaging in intimidating behaviour towards service users”, which the local authority interprets to include silent prayer.

In February 2023, Vaughan-Spruce was acquitted of all charges related to the incident. However, in March 2023, she was arrested again for the same activity.

“Praying silently is not a crime. No one should be arrested for the thoughts they have in their head – yet this happened to me twice at the hands of West Midlands Police, who clearly told me that ‘prayer is a crime’,” Vaughan-Spruce said in a statement released by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) UK, the legal aid group supporting her case.

West Midlands Police compensation award confirms unfair treatment and human rights violations in Vaughan-Spruce

ADF UK said Vaughan-Spruce had brought a claim against police for “two counts of false arrest and false imprisonment; assault and battery in relation to her invasion of privacy; and a breach of her human rights in relation to both the arrests and the onerous bail conditions imposed on her”.

Despite this victory, concerns remain about potential future infringements on religious freedom and freedom of thought.

The UK government is set to introduce nationwide “buffer zones” around abortion facilities, which could result in further arrests for silently praying or offering support to women considering an abortion.

Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal adviser to ADF UK, commented on the wider implications: “The fact that the government is allegedly about to criminalise ‘silent prayer’, in clear contravention of its commitment to international human rights law, exposes the current crisis of freedom of speech and thought in the UK.”

Lord David Frost, a senior Conservative Party member and former cabinet minister, expressed concern at the developments, according to the ADF: “It is unbelievable that in modern Britain people are being arrested for thought crimes. I am very pleased that Ms Vaughan-Spruce has been compensated for her wrongful arrest for this so-called crime.”