THE Ulster Unionist MP for East Antrim has been fined a total of £1,350 after being found guilty of blocking a road, obstructing an RUC officer and inciting others to block the dual carriageway into Larne.
Roy Beggs (60) was fined for taking part in a 14 hour blockade of the town last July in support of Orangemen involved in a stand off with the police at Drumcree in Co Armagh.
He told the court that he had come across the 400 strong protest as he made his way home from work and had felt compelled to stay to prevent violence breaking out.
Beggs admitted obstructing the road by sitting on it and obstructing a police inspector by returning to the carriageway after he had been removed. However, he denied inciting the crowd to sit on the roadway.
He told the court that his experience of teaching in an inner city school had shown him that even the most unruly boys could be made to conform if they were sitting down.
His defence counsel told the court that others in the crowd had followed Beggs's example. Finding the MP guilty of inciting the crowd, Resident Magistrate Robert Alcorn said that it was clear Beggs had influence on those in the crowd. "Others took their cue from the defendant and sat down on the carriageway, obstructing it, which is a criminal offence."
Fining Beggs £700 for obstructing an RUC officer, £150 for obstructing the highway and £500 for incitement to obstruction, Mr Alcorn said: "The community; cannot be held to ransom by anyone for any reason.
After the case Beggs said that he accepted full responsibility for all his actions. "It would have been easy for me to drive past the protest on July 10th, as I only came upon it on my way home from work, but I felt a responsibility to help ensure that the scenes of violence which have been so familiar in other areas did not come to Larne."
He also said that responsibility for what had occurred in Larne rested with those who had blocked the Garvaghey road in Portadown - "including the Sinn Fein flying squad".