‘Utterly traumatised’: anger at ordeal of UK woman accused of illegal abortion
When Nicola Packer took a pregnancy test in November 2020, as the country was in lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic, she did not even believe she was pregnant.Aged 41 at the time, she thought it more likely that she was perimenopausal, but had been feeling under the weather and when her friend – with whom the pregnancy had been conceived – suggested she took a test, she only did so to “prove him wrong”.When the test, bought from a chemist around the corner, came back positive, she was “shocked”, but was never in any doubt about what to do.She had never wanted children, and immediately sought a termination.Under emergency provisions introduced during the pandemic – which were later made permanent – abortion pills could be dispatched by post, following a remote consultation, in pregnancies up to 10 weeks’ gestation.
She took the pills, thinking, as her defence barrister, Fiona Horlick KC, told Isleworth crown court, “that she would only see blood clots to look into the toilet bowl”, but to her shock, hours later, she delivered “a small but fully formed baby”,This in itself was a traumatic event for Packer, but it would pale in comparison to what followed,She attended A&E at Charing Cross hospital, bleeding and in shock,Staff told her she was in the wrong hospital and to go to Chelsea and Westminster instead, but did not provide an ambulance and left her to make her own way there,She had brought the foetus with her, but did not immediately tell staff that she had taken abortion medication, because she feared it would affect the care she received.
When she later admitted that she had taken the pills, informing a midwife who had told Packer “she was there to care for her, that her safety was their priority and that whatever happened they were there to support her”, the police were called in.Uniformed officers arrived at the hospital, and Packer, still recovering from surgery after the birth, was arrested.She was taken into custody and her computers and phone were seized.It was the start of an ordeal that would stretch for four and a half years, culminating in her standing in the dock, giving evidence as part of her two-week trial.For periods of the trial Packer was able to stand with composure and a sense of quiet pride.
Often, however, this was stripped away under a barrage of deeply personal questioning, as the prosecution asked her to relive one of the worst days of her life, scrutinising every detail she said she could not recall,Though she seemed steady and stoic at times, she would sometimes give way to tears,When she gave evidence, Packer was joined in court by a small group of friends, who held her hand as she walked into the courtroom and escorted her out whenever she left, be it at the end of the day, or to take a break from her interrogation,At one point, the presiding judge was forced to send the jury away and reprimand Packer’s support group for tutting too loudly and rolling their eyes during a particularly intense, and in their eyes inappropriate, line of questioning,As the trial came to a close, addressing the jury of three men and nine women for the final time, Horlick said her client was still “utterly traumatised”.
“The facts of this case are a tragedy but they are not a crime,” she said.While the prosecution may be over, Packer, now 45, will be irreparably changed by the ordeal.The most private details of her life were aired in public – her medical history including past terminations, her sexual preferences, a tragic baby loss in her family, and even intimate photographs of her – shown by the defence to the jury to prove that she did not look pregnant.In the coming days, there will be questions asked of the Crown Prosecution Service, which brought the case to trial despite Judge Edmunds KC urging the CPS to review whether there was a public interest in trying the case “four and a half years after events”.At a pre-trial hearing, Edmunds, the recorder of Kensington who presided over the case, said there was a “heavy burden” on the prosecution, particularly given backlogs in the courts system.
Jonathan Lord, an NHS consultant gynaecologist and the clinician in charge of Packer’s care while working at MSI Reproductive Choices, said: “This was a vindictive and brutal prosecution in which the CPS weaponised victim-shaming.Wholly unnecessary details of Nicola’s relationships and sex life were prominent in the prosecution’s opening statement, made in the full knowledge they would be widely reported in the press.“The police played several recordings of her confidential medical consultations in open court.“CCTV footage was shown of her arriving at A&E in considerable distress.Packer had to show the court intimate photographs of herself in her defence, all while sat in a packed courtroom as the jury viewed the images.
No woman should ever have to endure institutionalised public shaming and humiliation, let alone in 2025 in England.”The case has furthered calls for a change in the law, which could come as soon as this summer, with two backbench Labour MPs set to lay amendments to the criminal justice bill, seeking to decriminalise abortion.One of the MPs, Tonia Antoniazzi, who spent a day in court during Packer’s trial, said: “It must be an immense relief for Nicola to have avoided conviction, but it is completely unacceptable that she was forced to endure the indignity and turmoil of a trial.Having met Nicola at the crown court recently, I have seen firsthand the devastating impact that this cruel and unnecessary investigation has had on her life over the last four and a half years.“The true injustice here is the years of her life stolen by a law written decades before women had the vote, for a ‘crime’ which doesn’t even apply in two nations of the United Kingdom.
“Nicola’s experience, in her own words, includes being taken from her hospital bed to a police cell, denied timely access to essential medical care, and spending every penny she had on lawyers defending her case.This is utterly deplorable, and it is not justice.I do not see how this law can be defended any longer.”Lord said: “Every agency Nicola needed turned against her.In this, as in other cases, the teams charged with treating, protecting and safeguarding vulnerable women and girls have done the most harm, breaking confidentiality and treating victims as criminals.
“The issue is not simply that Nicola had the misfortune of encountering some callous organisations or individuals, but that our current abortion laws directed and encouraged the actions taken against her.“The law is causing life-changing harm to the women involved, and in some cases their children too.“What’s happening, the horrific way the women and their children are being treated – including those with premature labours and natural later pregnancy losses – is a national scandal.”
Ten UK energy firms to pay £7m in compensation after overcharging error
Ten UK energy suppliers including EDF, E.ON and Octopus are to pay £7m in compensation and refunds after overcharging customers, after a review by the energy regulator for Great Britain.Ofgem said the suppliers have agreed to pay more than 34,000 customers compensation and refunds because of erroneously billing them more for standing charges than is allowed under the regulator’s price cap. Standing charges are daily fees added regardless of how much energy is used.The affected customers all had restricted meter infrastructure, meaning more than one electricity meter point recording usage at their property, and were erroneously overcharged between January 2019 and September 2024
Aston Martin and Rolls-Royce share prices soar as manufacturers welcome US tariff cuts
British manufacturers have welcomed some tariff relief in the new US-UK trade deal, with the share prices of the sportscar brand Aston Martin Lagonda and jet engine maker Rolls-Royce rising.The US has agreed to cut tariffs on cars, jet engines and steel, although the 10% baseline levy will continue to apply to other products exported from the UK, the two governments announced on Thursday.Keir Starmer spoke to Donald Trump from the headquarters of JLR, the UK’s biggest automotive employer and one of the main exporters to the US.The US now has a quota of 100,000 British-made cars per year with a 10% tariff – significantly lower than the 27.5% rate Trump imposed in March, but more than the 2
Wikipedia challenging UK law it says exposes it to ‘manipulation and vandalism’
The charity that hosts Wikipedia is challenging the UK’s online safety legislation in the high court, saying some of its regulations would expose the site to “manipulation and vandalism”.In what could be the first judicial review related to the Online Safety Act, Wikimedia Foundation claims it is at risk of being subjected to the act’s toughest category 1 duties, which impose additional requirements on the biggest sites and apps.The foundation said if category 1 duties were imposed on it, the safety and privacy of Wikipedia’s army of volunteer editors would be undermined, its entries could be manipulated and vandalised, and resources would be diverted from protecting and improving the site.Announcing that it was seeking a judicial review of the categorisation regulations, the foundation’s lead counsel, Phil Bradley-Schmieg, said: “We are taking action now to protect Wikipedia’s volunteer users, as well as the global accessibility and integrity of free knowledge.”The foundation said it was not challenging the act as a whole, nor the existence of the requirements themselves, but the rules that decide how a category 1 platform is designated
Tech giants beat quarterly expectations as Trump’s tariffs hit the sector
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, and this week in tech news: Trump’s tariffs hit tech companies that move physical goods more than their digital-only counterparts. Two stories about AI’s effect on the labor market paint a murky picture. Meta released a standalone AI app, a product it claims already has a billion users through enforced omnipresence. OpenAI dialed back an obsequious version of ChatGPT
Australia welcomes Owen Farrell omission but Lions get backing as firm favourites
The looming showdown between the Melbourne-born Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu and the Wallabies’ prized rugby league recruit Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii was an immediate focus of Australian analysis after the British & Irish Lions squad was announced.The 38 players named by Andy Farrell, led by the England captain, Maro Itoje, and featuring two Australians in Tuipulotu and the winger Mack Hansen, were recognised as clear favourites for the three-match Test series starting in July. But most commentators agreed the improving Wallabies should not fear the Lions, especially if they can stay competitive at the breakdown.The former Wallabies inside-centre Tim Horan, now a broadcaster, backed the call to make Itoje captain. “You’ve got to be first picked in every single Test match for the Lions, so there’s probably about five or six players [would would be], and he’s one of those
IPL cricket suspended amid growing India-Pakistan tensions
The Indian Premier League has been suspended, initially for a week, because of concerns about the security situation in the country amid rising tensions along its border with Pakistan. The news came hours after the decision was taken to relocate the final fixtures in the Pakistan Super League to United Arab Emirates because of safety concerns. Foreign-based players in India and all teams in Pakistan are expected to leave the countries over the next 24 hours.“Further updates regarding the new schedule and venues of the tournament will be announced in due course after a comprehensive assessment of the situation in consultation with relevant authorities and stakeholders,” Devajit Saikia, the secretary of the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), said in a statement. “The decision was taken by the IPL governing council after due consultation with all key stakeholders following the representations from most of the franchisees, who conveyed the concern and sentiments of their players, and also the views of the broadcaster, sponsors and fans; while the BCCI reposes full faith in the strength and preparedness of our armed forces, the board considered it prudent to act in the collective interest of all stakeholders
UK woman who took pills during lockdown cleared of illegal abortion
At least 216 children died in first high severity US flu season in seven years, CDC says
‘Utterly traumatised’: anger at ordeal of UK woman accused of illegal abortion
Gangs hold such influence over jails ‘it keeps me awake at night’, says Timpson
‘It makes no sense’: Macmillan hiring for senior roles after axing 26% of staff
Cringe! How millennials became uncool