Roy Prockter Photo: Liz Prockter
Quaker defies court ruling
Roy Prockter insists he will not contribute to the funding of war
An Essex Quaker is defying a judge’s ruling that he should pay overdue income tax, insisting that he will not contribute to the funding of war. Colchester County Court ruled that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) had a right to demand the money from Roy Prockter, a member of Clacton-on-Sea Meeting, who has withheld tax for the last three years. The judge refused permission to appeal.
Friends from Colchester Meeting met in the nearby Meeting house to hold Roy Prockter in the Light as he told the court that he was unwilling to hand over the money unless he received a binding assurance that it would not be spent on any military purpose.
The judge did not accept his argument that he had a right to ‘conscientious objection to military service in its modern form.’
Roy Prockter told the Friend he was ‘taken aback’ by the judge’s ruling, as he had understood the court session was only a pre-trial hearing.
He has now applied to a circuit judge to overrule the refusal of leave to appeal.
‘War is a moral abomination,’ said Roy Prockter. He told the Friend: ‘If I pay someone to murder, I’m a murderer. If I pay someone to commit terrorism, I’m a terrorist. If I pay for the military, I’m a combatant. The law recognises the first two but not the third.’
He added that he is prepared to take the case as far as the European Court of Human Rights.
The majority of people in the UK are unable to withhold income tax, as it is removed directly from salaries. However, self-employed people are responsible for calculating their own tax and a small number have withheld payment in protest against military spending. This has usually led to collection by bailiffs, although on a few occasions protestors have been sent to prison.
