Appeal
On 24 October 2007, Grell's supporters launched a campaign to finance her appeal but it was then reported that the Labour Party would pay her legal costs. On 27 November, The Independent newspaper quoted a party spokesman: "Following legal advice in the last few days, the Labour Party today withdrew its support for Miranda Grell's appeal." Criticism was levelled at the party for supporting Grell's appeal, in particular by gay rights campaigner and former Labour candidate Peter Tatchell.
Grell's appeal hearing began on 28 November 2007 at Snaresbrook Crown Court before Judge Peter Birts QC and two lay magistrates. On 30 November, Grell's conviction for making false statements about another candidate to gain electoral advantage was upheld. She vacated her seat and was banned from holding public office for three years. The by-election for Leyton ward on 14 February 2008 was won by Liberal Democrat Winnie Smith.
Following the appeal verdict, Grell resigned from the Labour Party, her job working for the Deputy Mayor of London and from the Compass management committee, but still pleaded her innocence.
Grell is single and lives in London. She is now the interim development officer of the Hackney Law Centre.
Read more about this topic: Miranda Grell
Famous quotes containing the word appeal:
“The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force.”
—Adolf Hitler (1889–1945)
“Royalty is a government in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person doing interesting actions. A Republic is a government in which that attention is divided between many, who are all doing uninteresting actions. Accordingly, so long as the human heart is strong and the human reason weak, Royalty will be strong because it appeals to diffused feeling, and Republics weak because they appeal to the understanding.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“I don’t like comparisons with football. Baseball is an entirely different game. You can watch a tight, well-played football game, but it isn’t exciting if half the stadium is empty. The violence on the field must bounce off a lot of people. But you can go to a ball park on a quiet Tuesday afternoon with only a few thousand people in the place and thoroughly enjoy a one-sided game. Baseball has an aesthetic, intellectual appeal found in no other team sport.”
—Bowie Kuhn (b. 1926)