LANCASTER MP Hilton Dawson is supporting a local activist jailed for three years for expressing his views. Stephen Booth, who comes from the city, was sent to Lancaster Castle prison for three years for 'conspiracy to incite others to commit criminal damage' after he published a radical magazine. Mr Dawson said he thought Stephen's offence was serious, but the sentence in no way matched the crime, and he visited him in prison yesterday.

"I know Stephen as he has been involved in local politics for years. His politics are very different to mine and I certainly wouldn't condone anyone who advocates violence of criminal damage.

"But I know Stephen as a gentle man and I agreed to go and see him when he wrote to me from prison. There was a pub landlord seriously beaten in Morecambe recently and the guy who did it was given a really lenient sentence. The sentence for Stephen just doesn't match that."

Mr Dawson said he had contacted 'Liberty,' a campaign group for democratic rights and would ask Stephen Booth what he wanted him to do on his behalf.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.