| Combat 18 man escapes jail sentence |
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A LEADING member of the extreme Right-wing group Combat 18, who admitted trying to disrupt a Bloody Sunday commemoration march, escaped a jail sentence yesterday.
At an earlier hearing at Southwark Crown Court, Judge James Wadsworth told William Browning and two other men, Matthew Osbury and David Haldane, that their behaviour warranted a prison sentence. Browning had previous convictions for assault and stirring up racial hatred. But after an affray charge was dropped, and because probation reports were encouraging, the trio were ordered to do 80 hours community service. They had admitted using threatening words and behaviour. As the marchers approached Trafalgar Square in January 1999, Browning, 31, of south east London, Osbury, 30, of Oxford, and Haldane, 28, of Irvine, Ayrshire, ran towards them shouting abuse. The event was filmed by Donal MacIntyre, the BBC journalist.
By Sue Clough, Courts Correspondent |