BNP man brandished stick at election staff

| Wednesday, 10 October 2007 Source: Aberystwyth Today – Cambrian News

POLICE found a frustrated BNP supporter brandishing a stick and shouting at polling booth staff on election day.

He got agitated after being told he couldn't vote because he wasn't registered, magistrates heard. But Shaun Jones admitted that he had handled things in the wrong way when he got frustrated with polling station staff, his solicitor said.

Jones, of 102 Heol Tynyfron in Penparcau, was given a six-month community order with supervision requirements after magistrates heard that he became agitated when he was told he wasn't registered to vote.

Prosecutor Chris David said police were called to the Penparcau polling station on Thursday 4 May - the day of the Assembly elections - to a report of a potential incident. There they found Jones, 27, brandishing a stick and shouting at staff.

They said that he had gone into the polling station and said he wanted to vote for the BNP. But when staff there said that he was not registered to vote, Jones became angry and started shouting.

Despite staff giving him a phone number to call to register, he was very agitated. Police asked him to leave the polling station and he did, but they said that he continued to shout and swear and was eventually arrested.

Defence solicitor Alan Lewis said Jones realised that he didn't handle the situation very well, but that he was just trying to use his democratic right to vote.

He said: "At no time did he intend to harass, alarm or distress anyone at the polling station. If he did he would like to apologise for that. It wasn't his intention, he just wanted to carry out his democratic right to vote.

"He accepts that he went about things in the wrong way that day. He wanted to make sure he had his vote and wanted to be sure he had his say. He was told he couldn't vote and he thought that was because he wanted to vote for the BNP and wasn't being allowed to do so."

Mr Lewis added that Jones had been cleared of a similar charge from later that day. Magistrates said they wanted Jones to have the six-month community order which would help him by giving him regular contact with probation officers. He will also have to pay £150 in prosecution costs.