Politics
No justice for pro-Palestine pensioners as CPS drops case
A lack of public interest
Merseyside Crown Prosecution Service has decided to drop its prosecution of a far-right thug who assaulted two women pensioners who were peacefully holding pro-Palestine placards on one of Liverpool’s busiest roads.
The assault was purely because the women were holding boards protesting against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
A 14-year-old boy who witnessed the incident on 2 February 2025 who rushed to help was also “battered”, as the women put it.
The case was scheduled to be tried on 3 March 2026 at Wirral Magistrates’ Court. However, the CPS has contacted both women to inform them it’s dropping the prosecution. This decision suggests a lack of public interest in pursuing a conviction.
Pensioners on the side of justice
Alma Lucas and Mary Carter are both members of the well-known Merseyside Pensioners Association (MPA). The fearless MPA is living proof that, at least in Liverpool, people get more radical and left-wing as they age, not less. This is perfectly logical. Having grandkids should make us more hungry for real change. It means shedding the ‘I’m alright, Jack’ attitude that allows injustices to continue unchecked.
Alma spoke to Skwawkbox about their experience – and the abundance of witnesses:
Mary Carter and I are two of the ‘Human Billboarders’ who display our placards across Liverpool on a weekly basis. Our purpose is to inform and educate the public of the injustices and atrocities visited upon the Palestinians. Examples of the billboards are:
IT DIDN’T START ON 7TH OCT
KILLING KIDS IS NOT SELF DEFENCE
STOP ARMING ISRAEL
LIVERPOOL JEWS AGAINST GENOCIDE
20,000 DEAD KIDS – NONE HAD A GUN
ISRAEL IS A TERRORIST STATE
THE CEASEFIRE IS A LIE
ZIONISM IS TERRORISM
STOP ZIONISMI had parked in a side street off Queens Drive as we were billboarding on the central reservation of this busy arterial road into/out of M62.
I was unloading the car and had attached a placard to each of 2 wooden fold-up chairs (‘dumb billboarders’) – each one said IT DIDN’T START ON THE 7TH OCTOBER.
Out of nowhere, a man came behind me and smashed one of the chairs onto the ground so hard that it broke. He screamed at me that if I didn’t leave his “f***ing road” he would “kill me”. It was terrifying. I thought it was a cul de sac so nowhere to run – I didn’t want to run past him – he was screaming and shouting.
By chance, a group of schoolboys were walking along Queens Drive so I ran over to them and asked if I could stay with them until Mary arrived. I saw Mary on the central reservation crossing Queens Dr dual carriageway. She phoned me and I quickly explained what had happened – she told me to phone the police which I did.
Mary then reached me and comforted me. She got her phone to take a picture of the aggressive man. My back was to them but out of the corner of my eye I saw commotion. The man had gone to punch her so one of the schoolboys intervened.
A big fight ensued and there was blood everywhere. I tried to stop the schoolboy by holding onto his backpack but, when I did so, the man kept punching the schoolboy so I left go of his backpack in order that he could defend himself.
Witnesses (members of the public some of whom were mothers with babies) came across to check we were ok and a number of police vehicles arrived who took statements and then put handcuffs on the aggressor and took him away.
The schoolboy who was beaten up was part of a group of schoolboys – I think every one of them had their phones out recording the assault. When Mary was running from the man, she must have accidentally knocked her phone from ‘camera’ to ‘audio’ which provided an audio recording of some of the incident, ie “you were trying to punch me in the face”. I would be astonished if there was no CCTV evidence.
The trial was due on Tuesday but the CPS has dismissed the case stating it does not meet the “threshold”. We’re unable to understand this reasoning – what kind of “threshold” isn’t passed when two pensioners are assaulted and a schoolboy is beaten up does not meet the “threshold”.
We’re left feeling cheated. Only a few weeks ago, pensioners were being arrested for merely holding placards yet 2 pensioners are assaulted and nothing is done. I do not trust the CPS.
Failing the litmus test
Skwawkbox contacted Merseyside CPS. Astonishingly, a spokesperson said that the case did not meet its “legal test”:
The Crown Prosecution Service has a duty to keep all cases under review. Upon further consideration of the evidence in this case we decided it no longer met our legal test. It has therefore been discontinued and we have informed the complainants of our decision.
The CPS says that its ‘legal test’ applies two questions to a case
- Is there enough evidence against the suspect/defendant?
- And if so is it in the public interest for the CPS to bring the case to court?
There were multiple witnesses to the attack and multiple victims. There was an abundance of video evidence too. There was almost certainly CCTV. It’s beyond credulity to suggest the evidence didn’t suffice.
So the case was dropped because the CPS decided it wasn’t in the public interest to remove a violent offender from Liverpool’s streets who assaulted and terrified two women pensioners and “battered” a schoolboy until there was “blood everywhere”.
The name of the accused-but-let-off is David Ross. The CPS has not provided his contact information or personal details and the name is a fairly common one. However, while none of the men named David Ross that Skwawkbox could find was the attacker or based in Liverpool, the name does crop up quite frequently among people who are ardent Zionists involved in targeting the anti-genocide left. An extended-family industry, perhaps.
Numerous Israel-linked attackers have assaulted anti-genocide protesters – usually with no action at all beyond removing them from the scene. An Israel connection would certainly help explain why an abundantly-evidenced, vicious assault was – in the CPS’s opinion – ‘not in the public interest’ to prosecute.
Featured image via Barold/the Canary