Derry GP Anne McCloskey spends afternoon in cells after courtroom rant

Derry-based GP Dr Anne McCloskey, recently suspended by the GMC over comments about Covid, spent the afternoon in a cell after she refused to follow a judge’s direction in court.

Representing herself at Coleraine Magistrates Court where she is charged with two counts of breaching covid regulations on 20 March 2021, the 66-year-old interrupted the proceedings and began to introduce herself when Deputy District Judge Chris Holmes asked her to be quiet.

Dr. McCloskey ignored him and continued to talk and when she again refused the judge’s request for her to stop talking and be quiet, Judge Holmes ordered “under article 160, take her to the cells.”

“I’m protected under the Geneva convention,” Dr. McCloskey declared but Judge Holmes said he would rise “until she is in custody.”

What followed while the court was risen was a half hour of discussion and debate between Dr. McCloskey, her three co-accused, court security staff, prison staff and, when they walked into the court, three uniformed police officers.

Despite insisting that “I’m not going, the judge does not have the authority or the power to deprive me of my liberty,” eventually Dr McCloskey hugged her friends and gathering her bag and files together, was escorted to the cells at the courthouse where she was held for the next four hours on Friday afternoon.

Under article 160, a judge can impose a fine up to £2,500 or up to a month in jail for any person who either “wilfully insults a resident magistrate” or witness or court officer or any person who “wilfully interrupts the proceedings of the court or otherwise misbehaves in court.”

Dr McCloskey was suspended by the GMC in 2021 following controversial comments she made about children taking Covid vaccines and just last week the doctor, from Chapel Road in Derry, lost an appeal against that suspension.

Her three co-accused facing the same charges are: Liam Henry Back, 60, from the Islandmagee Road in Whitehead; Alanna Lavery, 43, from the Battery Road in Cookstown and John William Stewart, 62, from the Ringsend Road in Limavady.

The case had been listed on Friday for the defendants to indicate whether they were accepting or denying the charges but prosecuting counsel Natasha Fitzsimmons said that having spoken to them, “they do have questions and they want to speak to the judge before they give their attitude.”

With Dr McCloskey still being held in the cells, Judge Holmes told the other three defendants that he was adjourning it until February 9.

The GP was brought back into court just after 4.30pm and Judge Holmes told her he had two options, either by imposing a fine which would result in her release or “I can have you held in custody.”

Assuring her that she will be given the time and opportunity to fight the charges and to present her case, the judge warned her however that “you will not be allowed to disrupt proceedings…you will be allowed to make your points but you have to follow the rules like everybody else.”

Having been assured that she was allowed to speak, Dr McCloskey ranted that it was not her intention to “harass, pester, offend, coerce, blackmail or misbehave or cause anxiety or annoyance or distress.”

“I am here to seek due process, I tried to introduce myself in my case and I was subjected to four hours of incarceration and as I say, I did nothing wrong.

“What happened here was unconscionable behaviour,” declared the doctor, claiming that as a “private citizen” she is protected by affidavits and the Geneva Convention.

Decrying the proceedings as “belligerence in a military court,” she claimed she had been “treated like a criminal.”

Judge Holmes pointed out that “there is no such thing” as being protected by affidavits and emphasised that “if you can trust anything, trust that you will be allowed to present your case, call witnesses and cross examine witnesses, you will be given your rights.”

“But what you will not be allowed to do is to disrupt the court which is what you did,” the judge told Dr. McCloskey, adding that she had been “the author of your own misfortune.”

The GP said she wanted to see the order which empowered the judge to order her taken to the cells but bringing the issue to a head, Judge Holmes told her “you are not going to force me to send you to prison - seven days in prison will cost us a fortune.”

“I’m going to fine you £50 and allow you six weeks to pay and you can come back on the 9 February and deal with this in front of District Judge King.”