CPS ordered to pay CAA’s costs over ‘shambolic’ disclosure in dropped case

The Crown Prosecution Service has reportedly been ordered by a judge to pay legal costs for the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) in relation to a case of a pro-Israel campaigner wrongly accused of assaulting emergency workers, with the CPS being described as having made “clear and stark” errors.

Mark Birbeck, the founder of Our Fight UK, had been prosecuted by the CPS over an incident at a protest in 2024, where he had been holding a sign saying “Hamas is Terrorist”. However, in a statement by CAA today, the group said that “Two days before Mark’s trial in October 2025, the CPS revealed that it had been sitting on video footage that exonerated Mark, and discontinued its prosecution.

“Last week, a Judge ruled that this was one of those ‘very rare’ and ‘exceptional cases’ where the prosecution had made such “clear and stark” errors that the CPS was ordered to pay defence costs related to their ‘improper’ mistakes. The CPS instructed King’s Counsel to oppose the defence costs application, but the Judge found the CPS’s approach to disclosure to have been ‘shambolic’. In particular, the Judge castigated the CPS for failing to serve the crucial police videographer’s footage, which vindicated Mr Birbeck, until just before the trial.”

The statement by CAA went on to describe how they were “proud” to have assisted Birbeck, who was described as “a friend of the community”, assuming the costs of his legal representation.

The group said it was “obscene that the police and prosecution are wasting time hounding people who are simply pointing out that Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK, rather than focusing on the terror sympathisers in the regular hate marches that have transformed our cities and made antisemitic hate crime a daily feature of Jewish life in modern Britain.”

Our Fight UK released a statement today, describing how Birbeck “had been charged in September 2024…with assaulting emergency workers when being arrested in front of a Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) march — whilst holding a placard declaring ‘Hamas are terrorists’.”

Our Fight went on to say that “the CPS were repeatedly told by the courts to release specific video evidence, and on each occasion failed to do so.” When the video was released, the group said, it “did NOT show Mark ‘struggling with officers for a minute’ as claimed, and instead showed ‘the defendant was surrounded by four male police officers before a female officer joined, and all five officers took him to the ground’.”

Responding to the costs announcement against the CPS, Mark Birbeck said: “Although it was important that the case was dropped last October, I did not feel that decisively showed my innocence. But this decision for wasted costs — and the judge’s strong criticism of the CPS — establishes that the charges were fabricated, and makes it clear I had no violent intent.

“My goal has always been to use my democratic rights to protest peacefully, and to stand in solidarity with the Jewish community against the rapid rise in antisemitism.”

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: “We acknowledge the judge’s comments and are reviewing the judgement carefully.”