Man convicted for silently praying for unborn son condenms the verdict as "criminalised thought"

An army veteran has been convicted for silently praying outside an abortion clinic for his unborn son.

Adam Smith-Connor, a reservist who served in Afghanistan, received a two-year conditional discharge and was ordered to pay £9,000. He condemned the ruling, stating it had “criminalised thought”.

Smith-Connor was prosecuted for breaching a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), which bans protests, including silent prayer, within a buffer zone around the Bournemouth clinic.

He argued that silently praying for a son he regrets aborting 24 years ago should not be a crime, calling it an infringement on his right to express his beliefs.

However, Judge Orla Austin at Poole magistrates' court ruled that Smith-Connor had violated the PSPO under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

She stated that his silent prayer in the buffer zone could have a "detrimental impact" on those attending the clinic, even though he was not directly interacting with anyone.

Smith-Connor criticised the verdict, questioning how a silent prayer could be deemed criminal. "How can we ask British troops to defend freedom abroad while fining, arresting, and imprisoning people back home for the thought crime of praying?" he said after the ruling.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF UK), which supported Smith-Connor, condemned the judgment.

Jeremiah Igunnubole, ADF UK’s legal counsel, said: “A man has been convicted today because of the content of his thoughts – his prayers to God – on the public streets of England.

“We can hardly sink any lower in our neglect of basic fundamental freedoms of free speech and thought.”

ADF UK plans to appeal the conviction.