Labour MP cleared of kicking Scottish independence campaigner
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Version 0 of 1. A Labour MP has walked free from court after a sheriff described allegations that she had assaulted a Scottish independence campaigner as “a storm in a teacup”. Sheriff Kenneth Hogg found the charge that Marie Rimmer had kicked yes campaigner Patricia McLeish on the day of the independence referendum in September 2014 was not proven, a verdict under Scottish law short of being found not guilty. The sheriff said he was not convinced that either party was telling the full truth, but wished the police had greater discretion in such cases. This was a “storm in a teacup”, he said, and a “yellow card would have been preferable to a red”. Rimmer, the MP for St Helens South and Whiston, had been cleared of a second charge of acting in a threatening or abusive manner on Tuesday after prosecutors agreed she had no case to answer as there was insufficient evidence to prove she had been abusive. The case focused on an apparent confrontation between Rimmer, then a Labour councillor who was in Scotland to support the no vote, and McLeish, a trade union member and activist in the Solidarity party, as they canvassed outside a referendum polling station in Shettleston, Glasgow on 18 September. McLeish alleged that Rimmer had been aggressive and kicked her in the shin after stepping up to her in an intimidatory manner. Rimmer said she was astonished by the accusations, which she vehemently denied. The MP said she had tried to engage McLeish in conversation after the independence activist had verbally attacked her, calling her a “red Tory” and claiming Labour had wrecked the NHS. “I would never dream of hurting anyone or kicking anyone,” Rimmer had told the court. “I wasn’t aggressive, anything but. If anyone was aggressive, it was Ms McLeish against me.” Hogg said that he had been astonished at some of the evidence he had heard. “I am not clear any party in this case, apart from the lady police officer, has told me what really happened on that day. I have unease with the whole evidence and am still unable to form a clear picture,” he said. The court heard lawyers for both sides arguing about the validity of the case. Liam Ewing, Rimmer’s defence solicitor, said there was “an inescapable” political context to the case which made it more significant than it might otherwise have been. Adele MacDonald, a fiscal depute, insisted the evidence had made clear it was not a malicious allegation but had actually happened. |