The Tichborne Claimant

A woman has been fined £700 for saying that David Cameron has blood on his hands! And she was viciously assaulted by the police for this "peaceful and legal political protest in Witney".

I held up a placard that said “Cameron has blood on his hands,” and I shouted that “disabled people are dying because of Cameron’s policies.” I didn’t expect that to be a big deal, I only wanted to do my bit to show that we’re not all taken in by the rhetoric that disabled people are ‘scroungers’ and ‘shirkers.’

My face was pushed into the ground, I could feel blood coming from my nose, there was someone putting their whole weight on my back while someone else was stamping on my knees, along with various people grabbing and twisting my limbs. And then the officer on my back moved a knee up onto the back of my neck.

Unbelievable! Except, when things seem entirely unbelievable, it might be because we're not quite hearing the whole story. Young woman holds up a placard at an event, and shouts a slogan. And for that she is leapt on by the rozzers and, effectively, beaten up. Does that ring true? Well, turns out there's a touch more to it than that.

Bethan Tichborne had wanted to protest against Government cuts leading to the deaths of people with disabilities when she tried to climb over the barrier with a home-made placard in front of shocked schoolchildren.

District Judge Tim Pattinson said: “It is difficult to think of a clearer example of disorderly behaviour than to climb or attempt to climb a barrier at a highly security-sensitive public occasion.”

So the story is actually that someone tried to climb over a security barrier to get to the Prime Minister, while shouting that he had blood on his hands and carrying a placard. This is pretty much what the PM has a security detail for - what on earth did she think would happen? In that light, her account of her assault sounds more or less exactly what politicians' protection squads are trained to do in case of threat - immobilise them quickly.

The moral of the story is, if something seems too outrageous to be true, the chances are that it isn't.