Imprisonment Of Garry Johnson

EDM number 311 in 2013-14, proposed by John Hemming on 27/06/2013.
Categorised under the topics of Administration of justice, Children and families, Family law and Internet and cybercrime.

That this House notes the imprisonment of Garry Johnson for, inter alia, adding material to the internet naming his three children; further notes that the only document he is known to have added since an interim judgment in November 2012 was a birthday greeting to his 21 year old son on Facebook; further notes that the hearing at which he was imprisoned was not recorded; further notes that notwithstanding the claims of the court service that the hearing was in public, there is no evidence that the hearing was in public and media attempts to find it on the day were frustrated by the inability of the court service to say where it was; further notes that the court service has not provided any evidence of any other item which has been added to the internet by Garry Johnson since November 2012; concludes therefore that, notwithstanding the protestations of the court service, the only available evidence indicates that he was imprisoned at least in part for saying happy birthday to his adult son on Facebook and was additionally warned by the judge not to congratulate his son for any football successes or indeed for any potential future marriage; accepts that he has historically published items which potentially should be properly subject to limitations and recognises that by the time of the 2 May 2013 hearing he had substantially removed these items; but believes that the use of the law to stop an individual from wishing his adult son happy birthday on Facebook is excessive.

This motion has been signed by a total of 1 MPs.