Security News > 2020 > May > Far-right leader walks free from court after conviction for refusing to hand his phone passcode over to police
The leader of far-right political group Britain First has been handed a judicial slap on the wrist after refusing to give his phone PIN to police at Heathrow Airport.
He told police the party was "Not liberal like the Lib Dems in the UK, they're nationalist and right wing like Le Pen and Trump".
Britain First's leader refused to hand over his PIN, his barrister Abigail Bright told the court, because he was worried about giving police personal details of Britain First's members.
The Chief Magistrate of England and Wales, Emma Arbuthnot found that the interview was perfectly legal, as was the police demand for the PIN. Summing up the case, she said: "He did not say at any point he was not giving the PIN codes because of a concern for members. I find at the time of the stop he was warned over and over he would be committing an offence. He took a decision not to provide the PIN and I find this was a wilful obstruction."
Miranda passed through Heathrow carrying Snowden-derived material and was forced to hand it all over to British police.