Our justice system failed the young Bristol protesters

Thank you to Tom Wall for keeping the story of the Bristol protest alive in his long read (‘It was so wrong’: why were so many people imprisoned over one protest in Bristol?, 5 March). I’m the mother of one of the young people convicted of riot at the “kill the bill” protest in March 2021. My son is currently in prison serving his sentence. He was 19 years old at the time of the protest. A bright university student with no protest experience and no criminal convictions, he had never before been in trouble with the police. He was assaulted by the police like many others, but later put on a wanted list, arrested and charged with riot. This has affected him severely, and he tried to kill himself shortly after.

He was dragged through the courts, which affected his mental health even further. He couldn’t face any more pressure and pleaded guilty. It’s hard to describe the effect it has had, and will have, on him and the whole family for the rest of our lives. But we are united and we will get through this. As for my son, we know he will achieve greatness after prison. He’s studying while inside and is determined not to give up. He has all the support he needs from family and friends.

It’s clear that the charges of rioting were political. Three years on, not one police officer has faced disciplinary action. My son still fears speaking out and has lost any hope that he and the others can get justice. We have lost all confidence in policing and the justice system. How this is even possible in a democratic country?
Name and address supplied

• I have family and friends who attended the protest in Bristol, some of whom went on to be arrested and charged. I attended many of the court cases, watched hours of footage and heard the evidence. I was staggered by the severity of the charges. My daughter, who was 19 at the time with no previous criminal record, was sentenced to 14 months in prison. Her experiences there, not to mention the cost to the public purse, seem completely at odds with her actions on the day.

As a family, we watched in horror as the early cases went to court, some ending in outrageously long sentences. She, like other defendants who came to trial later, was given the chance to plead guilty to a lesser charge and avoid the lottery of the jury. The way in which the charges changed as the cases proceeded should be investigated. After such a difficult experience, which has robbed me of faith in the judicial system, I was relieved to finally read an article that reflected the events as they happened.
Phil Lazarus
Whiteparish, Wiltshire

• I was interviewed by Tom Wall at the end of last year on behalf of my daughter Mariella Gedge-Rogers and as one of the founders of the family and friends support group Justice for the Bristol Protesters (JBP). Mariella was one of the first people to plead not guilty to riot, but was found guilty and sentenced to five and a half years in prison, before the Crown Prosecution Service started offering others a plea bargain.

Mariella was trodden on by a police officer, sustaining an injury to her hand. But more serious was how she felt while her head was pushed in the gutter. Her words were: “I feared for my life, thoughts of George Floyd and Sarah Everard were going through my mind.”

She clashed with the police after witnessing others being attacked by them. She pleaded guilty to violent disorder for some minor offences, but was given this harsh and disproportionate sentence.

As mentioned in the article, not one police officer has been held to account for their actions. JBP started a petition to call for a public inquiry into the excessive police brutality, and we have more than 2,000 signatures. We have also been attempting to establish how the riot charge was allowed to be used on what was essentially a protest, exacerbated by overzealous policing.

The inconsistencies and timings of the trials determined Mariella’s fate – five and a half years instead of perhaps 20 months. Is this really a fair justice system?
Heidi Gedge
Bristol

• As a family member of one of the people affected, the injustices that took place that day are still being felt by many of the protesters and their families. Most of the protesters were young people with no criminal record and got caught up in police violence.

These young people’s lives have been irrevocably changed by spending time in custody and then having a criminal record. Meanwhile, no police officers have even been cautioned after inflicting unprovoked violence on many of the protesters.

It was really good to read Tom Wall’s excellent and balanced piece on the subject, especially the background to the event, which really does go some way to explain the unjust riot charges that were imposed, with their long custodial sentences, for “crimes” that have not received this sentence in the past. It is chilling to think how our young people have been used in this way as part of the government gradually eroding our right to protest.
Name and address supplied