A REPUBLICAN marcher has been convicted under anti-terror laws for wearing an IRA 'uniform'.
John Murphy, 39, was filmed taking part in a parade earlier this year while wearing a black beret and army-style boots.
He was charged under section 13 of the Terrorism Act after a member of the public complained to police after seeing footage of the march on Facebook.
He was convicted of wearing clothing backing a banned terrorist organisation following a trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court.
Murphy, of Newarthill, Lanarkshire, is believed to be only the second person in Scotland to be convicted under the law.
He was admonished for the offence after Sheriff Alastair Carmichael heard he had already spent two months in jail.
Unemployed Murphy was taking part in a legal parade through Viewpark, Lanarkshire, in February this year when he was filmed.
In the film he could be seen holding an Irish flag and wearing a black beret, green scarf and black trousers tucked into boots.
Murphy's defence lawyer, David Cairns, said the march was well policed but none of the officers present on the day raised any concerns about Murphy's attire.
He also accused Samuel Hannah, 48, a self-confessed "Loyalist sympathiser" who made the complaint to police, of being "keen to start trouble with Republican marching bands."
Mr Hannah told the court: "The police were not doing the job properly. They are meant to inspect all uniforms before a parade."
Sentencing Murphy, Sheriff Carmichael told him: "No one was dressed in this way. You stood out from the rest in that respect.
"Think carefully how you dress in future when you go to parades like this.
"I suspect you won't get this leniency if you have another conviction. This is, in effect, a warning not to do it again."
The only other person to convicted under the Act involved a man who arrived in Scotland from Belfast wearing UVF-inscribed jewellery.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article