Jonathan Williams (left) and James Bull (right) said they were thrown out of a Soho pub for kissing
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A pub where hundreds of gay rights’ protesters were planning a “kiss-in” protest has apparently asked its punters to leave and locked its doors.
James Bull and Jonathan Williams said they were thrown out of the John Snow pub on Broadwick Street in London’s Soho for kissing on Wednesday night.
More than 700 people said they would attend a protest, mobilised on Facebook, at 1900 BST on Friday.
Thomas Paget, the licence holder of the pub, refused to comment on the row.
The John Snow pub and Samuel Smith’s brewery, which owns the central London venue, have also not commented on the incident.
Asked whether the pub had been the victim of a “misunderstanding”, Mr Paget said: “I don’t have anything to say.”
At 1640 BST, onlooker Richard Lally, 26, of Clapham, south London, said: “About 40 minutes ago, people started piling out of the pub. The doors were then locked.
“If he doesn’t like the house rules, don’t use the pub”
Daniel Griffiths Ex-president of the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations
“They won’t let anyone back in.
“You wouldn’t think in Soho, this kind of thing would happen.”
Friday evening’s planned protest had “gone viral” and the response had been “absolutely amazing”, according to protest organiser Paul Shetler.
“It was kind of the obvious thing to do,” he said.
“It seemed rather than us just sort of accepting that we should be hiding away from a place like this we should just go there instead and have a massive kiss-in.
“People might want to show up with a partner but I’m sure there will be plenty of people willing to lend their lips for human liberation,” he added.
Referring to Wednesday night’s incident Mr Bull, 23, said a man claiming to be the pub’s landlord first objected to their kissing shortly after 2145 BST, but they were asked to leave an hour later after a “quick peck on the lips”.
“We had just kissed. It was nothing obscene,” he added.
He said the pair were thrown out of the pub at about 2250 BST.
Mr Williams, 26, said they were kissing but it “wasn’t anything indecent”.
But Daniel Griffiths, ex-president of the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations, said: “If he doesn’t like the house rules, don’t use the pub.”
Mr Griffiths, owner of the Miners Rest in Barnsley, said every pub landlord was free to make in-house rules which show “respect to the rest of the clientele”.
The Metropolitan Police is investigating Wednesday’s incident.
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A benefits cheat from Lincolnshire has been given a suspended prison sentence after being caught “singing and dancing” as a karaoke host.
Geoffrey Lindley, 54, claimed £54,000 in disability and incapacity payments, saying he could only walk eight to 10 metres in about 20 minutes.
But he was covertly filmed performing to songs at pubs in the Skegness area.
At Lincoln Crown Court, he admitted benefit fraud and was sentenced to nine months, suspended for two years.
The court heard Lindley, who suffered from a heart complaint, first began claiming benefits in 1996.
Faye Mellor, for the prosecution, said that as he began to improve and started working again, he failed to let the Department for Work and Pensions know about the change in his circumstances.
She said he had filled out a self assessment form in 2002 in which he said his movement was limited.
Miss Mellor said: “He said he had to always be accompanied because he suffered panic attacks and chest pains.
“He went on to say he had angina, pain and dizziness, and breathlessness, and it was dangerous if he was around roads.”
The DWP became aware that he was working again and started “covert surveillance” in which he was shown working as an entertainer and a bingo caller.
Lindley, of Parla Court in Chapel St Leonards, pleaded guilty to two charges of falsely claiming incapacity benefit and falsely claiming disability living allowance between 2 March 2003 and 21 July 2009 – totalling £54,259.
Recorder Timothy Spencer QC, put him in court cells for nearly five hours as he considered his sentence.
He said he wanted to give Lindley “a taste of custody” and warned he had come “very, very close” to a spell in prison.
Colin Hart, representing Lindley, said he had only earned around £100 for each performance, and a substantial amount of those earnings were donated to charities such as Macmillan Nurses, Cancer Research, and the British Heart Foundation.
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Wrexham FC said it ‘holds its hands up’ to what it owes the tax man
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Wrexham FC have been issued with a winding-up order by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
A statement on the club’s website says they owe HMRC “just under £200,000” and that they are doing all they can to secure the future of the club.
The club, which remains for sale, says it needs gates of 4,000 to survive.
Last month Wrexham FC Supporters’ Trust (WST) said it had joined forces with businesswoman Stephanie Booth, to work on a joint bid to buy the club.
Earlier, ex-footballer Ashley Ward withdrew his bid.
Meanwhile, businessman Stephen Cleeve has outlined his interest to fans on the Red Passion website.
The club said talks with prospective parties to buy the club were continuing.
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The police chief of Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province has died in a suicide attack on his headquarters.
Khan Mohammad Mujahid was killed and two other police officers were injured in the blast, officials say.
A suicide bomber managed to penetrate the defences of the police headquarters by wearing a police uniform, the Afghan interior ministry said.
Mr Khan has survived previous attempts on his life. The police HQ has also been targeted in the past.
“The suicide attacker had strapped explosives to his body,” deputy chief Shir Shah told the AFP news agency.
“He detonated himself at the gate of Kandahar police headquarters. Police chief Khan Mohammad Mujahid has been martyred, [and] two policemen have been injured.”
Kandahar is seen as the spiritual homeland of the Taliban, and has experienced some of the worst of the violence in Afghanistan in recent years.
Attacks on Afghan police and troops have increased recently as the Taliban tries to undermine efforts to prepare local forces to assume full security control once the Nato security force leaves.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Actress Sienna Miller is one of several celebrities accusing the News of the World of breach of privacy
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Four test cases for alleged victims of phone hacking by the News of the World should go ahead later in the year, a High Court judge has said.
Mr Justice Vos said the test cases could include actress Sienna Miller and ex-Sky Sports commentator Andy Gray.
The cases could pave the way for action from some 91 alleged victims.
It comes as Scotland Yard confirmed they were considering a criminal investigation into claims journalists paid police officers for information.
The judge said the four test cases would possibly also concern interior designer Kelly Hoppen and sports agent Sky Andrew.
He said this was because the investigations were well-advanced and covered a range of issues and levels of damage.
He said the main issues were whether there was interception, how much of it went on, what was done with the information and the degree of damage suffered.
“The most important thing for the claimants is to have a guide as to what damages they may be entitled”
Mr Justice Vos
Mr Justice Vos said: “Otherwise we will be going on forever. Some people may want to but I don’t.”
He added: “At the bottom of all this is a claim for damages and the most important thing for the claimants is to have a guide as to what damages they may be entitled.”
The court also heard that actor Jude Law is expected to issue legal proceedings shortly.
Lawyers are still working out the extent of the phone hacking relating to Miss Miller, who has had an on-off relationship with Mr Law.
Mr Justice Vos said a lot of articles were written about Miss Miller in 2005-6 in the News of the World and that it was a possibility they arose from phone hacking.
It is known there are 91 alleged victims of phone hacking but it is rumoured there may be as many as 5,000.
The Metropolitan Police told the court it was currently indexing 9,200 pages of notebooks belonging to private detective Glenn Mulcaire who was jailed over phone tapping in 2007.
News International recently apologised for “voicemail interception” between 2004 and 2006 and announced it was setting up a compensation fund to deal with “justifiable claims fairly and efficiently”.
The BBC’s legal correspondent Clive Coleman said more might emerge about which victims will accept compensation under the scheme, who will fight on, and how many more are bringing civil claims.
The BBC understands News International was ready to settle claims with eight people, including former Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, her estranged husband, lawyer David Mills, Kelly Hoppen, Andy Gray, and Joan Hammell, a former aide to ex-deputy prime minister Lord Prescott.
The potential new police investigation comes after former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks (nee Wade) told a Commons committee in 2003 that journalists “had paid police for information in the past”.
But last week Mrs Brooks denied she had any “knowledge of any specific cases”.
News International said it was not currently commenting on the matter.
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The head of a troubled Powys school, which has been hit by strikes over planned job losses, is suspended while an investigation takes place.
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The BBC’s Orla Guerin reports from a crowded Misrata hospital
The French defence minister has suggested a new UN Security Council resolution may be needed for Nato allies to achieve their goals in Libya.
Gerard Longuet was speaking after a joint letter by the US, UK and French leaders said there could be no peace while Col Muammar Gaddafi was in power.
The current UN resolution makes no mention of regime change.
Signs of division remain within Nato, which is struggling to find additional combat aircraft for its strikes.
Nato pilots are enforcing the current UN resolution to establish a no-fly zone and to protect civilians in Libya, which has effectively been split between forces for and against Col Gaddafi since a revolt against his rule began in mid-February.
Speaking on French radio, Mr Longuet conceded that ousting Col Gaddafi would be “certainly” beyond the scope of the existing UN Security Council resolution 1973 on Libya, and could require a new council vote.
At the Nato conference
Britain and the United States had crucial talks in the margins of the Nato meetings this morning: Hillary Clinton and William Hague were trying to build momentum with the French behind increased pressure on Col Gaddafi.
They talked about political pressure, but also about the imperative – for them – of persuading other Nato countries to volunteer extra attack aircraft to intensify the bombing campaign.
Afterwards Mr Hague again said he was hopeful others would step up. It’s clear Italy is being worked on particularly hard, but so far there’s a gap between Nato’s ambitions and its ability to break stalemate in Libya.
“Beyond resolution 1973, certainly it didn’t mention the future of Gaddafi but I think that three major countries saying the same thing is important to the United Nations and perhaps one day the Security Council will adopt a resolution.”
At the Berlin conference, Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the organisation was absolutely determined to continue its operation for as long as there was a threat against Libyan civilians.
“And it’s impossible to imagine that threat [will] disappear with Gaddafi in power,” he added.
In their open letter published earlier on Friday, Barack Obama, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy said Nato must maintain military operations to protect civilians and maintain pressure on Col Gaddafi.
To allow him to remain in power would “betray” the Libyan people, they wrote.
The letter from the three leaders, published in the UK’s Times newspaper as well as the International Herald Tribune and France’s Le Figaro, was an attempt to show a united front against Col Gaddafi.
Only a few of Nato’s 28 members – including France, the UK, Canada, Belgium, Norway and Denmark – are conducting air strikes.
Mr Rasmussen has said there are indications that allies will provide extra strike aircraft needed for the operation in Libya.
“We have got indications that nations will deliver what is needed… I’m hopeful that we will get the necessary assets in the very near future,” he said in Berlin.
Italy is thought to have been identified as a key potential contributor.
While politicians debated the way forward, fighting on the ground and Nato bombing missions have continued.
In Libya on Friday there were reports of rocket strikes by pro-Gaddafi forces on the western rebel-held city of Misrata.
Rebels said a rocket attack in Misrata by pro-Gaddafi forces killed 23 people on Thursday. Neither account could be confirmed.
Rebels in the city have been holding out against attacks for two months, but UK Foreign Secretary William Hague stressed that Nato needed to act swiftly to prevent a “massacre” in the city.
He said Nato had been constrained by the need to avoid civilian casualties but had probably prevented the city from being overrun by Col Gaddafi’s forces.
The BBC’s Orla Guerin in Misrata said staff at a hospital there were battling to treat civilians injured by mortars and rocket fire.
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