Pro-Palestine campaigners in court over ‘body bag’ protest outside Lammy’s house

Two women have been accused of harassing David Lammy by putting body bags outside his home in a pro-Palestine protest.

Cristy North and Susan Houseman placed “child-sized” body bags in front of the then-foreign secretary’s house in Haringey, north London, on 8 April last year to demand an end to trade with Israel, Youth Demand said in a press release at the time.

Metropolitan Police officers attended the scene and ordered them to leave the area.

North, 38, of Nottingham, and Houseman, 55, of Caton in Lancashire, have both denied displaying a threatening or abusive sign or writing likely to cause harassment, alarm and distress in relation to the protest, according to court documents.

They have also pleaded not guilty to harassing Mr Lammy.

Neither appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court for a short case management hearing on Thursday, where it was heard that a two-day trial will take place at the same court on 26-27 May.

They have both been bailed.