An animal rights activist, who wore a pigs mask and spread fake blood across the floor at a McDonalds resturant, has accused the legal system of ‘wasting public money’ after she was sentenced to 60 hours unpaid work.
Dylan Roffey, 24, who marched into a Brighton branch of the fast-food chain with around 10 to 20 protesters in May, also said that people should not be arrested for ‘having basic compassion’.
The actress was convicted of criminal damage at Brighton Magistrates’ court this month and ordered to pay £250 court costs, £50 compensation to McDonald’s and an £85 victim surcharge, along with her unpaid work requirement.
It comes after the vegan was sentenced to 150 hours unpaid work for an unrelated incident, where she called a woman a ‘piece of s***’ and allegedly spat in her face at Brighton station after noticing she was wearing a £750 Canada Goose fur coat.
Speaking exclusively to Femail, Dylan branded the decision to arrest her ‘ridiculous’.
Animal rights activist Dylan Roffey (right), 24, has accused the legal system of ‘wasting public money’ after she was sentenced to 60 hours unpaid work for wearing a pigs mask and covering herself in blood at a McDonald’s restaurant in Brighton. Pictured – outside Brighton Magistrates
The actress, who also said that people should not be arrested for ‘having basic compassion’, was convicted of criminal damage at Brighton magistrates’ court and also ordered to pay £250 court costs, £50 compensation to McDonald’s and £85 victim surcharge. Pictured – Dylan protesting at the McDonald’s store)
She went into the protest knowing that she would be arrested, she told MailOnline. Dylan became a vegan almost four years ago after researching the meat and animal products industry
‘I think it’s ridiculous that people’s time and money was spent on people who are trying to save lives, instead of doing something about people who are profiting from people being killed,’ she said, referring to the animals.
‘I don’t think people should be arrested for protests, or for having basic compassion, and that thinking that killing non-human people is an unacceptable thing to do.
During the hearing judge Amanda Kelly threw out the charge of resisting arrest, but sentenced Dylan for criminal damage.
‘There isn’t a gentle way to macerate a chick for the egg industry, or a passionate way to slit someone’s throat.
‘We’re facing such fascism and animal exploitation on a scale that we’ve never seen before.’
Photos and videos from the protest in May show Ms Roffey sitting in a pool of fake blood, an edible mixture of flour and food dye, surrounded by activists.
They are holding up pictures of cows, chickens and pigs emblazoned with the phrase ‘I want to live’.
She was arrested at the scene by police after making no attempt to move, and was later charged with criminal damage and resisting a police officer.
‘I knew going into it I would be arrested’, she said, ‘that’s why I stayed’.
‘I knew it would get more attention and get more eyes on what’s happening.
‘And make people think that this isn’t something that is done on a whim but something that people are really horrified by.’
During the hearing judge Amanda Kelly threw out the charge of resisting arrest, but sentenced Dylan for criminal damage.
Dylan pictured shortly before being arrested by police officers at the scene. She was later charged with criminal damage and resisting arrest after she made no attempt to move. Judge Amanda Kelly threw out the latter charge
She also told MailOnline that she protested to highlight the plight of animals. (Ms Roffey and five other activists outside Brighton magistrates’ court)
Sentencing Dylan, judge Kelly said that, after she spread fake blood across the floor in McDonald’s, ‘the damage need not be permanent in order to be criminal’
‘Not withstanding the fact that the mixture was flour, water and food dye… the damage need not be permanent in order to be criminal,’ she explained, reported Sky News.
The judge went on to say that she was ‘absolutely sure’ that Miss Dylan’ intention was to damage.
‘I find that Miss Roffey’s purpose was to raise awareness and attract publicity for her cause but that these purposes are too far removed from providing the animals’ immediate protection.
‘I have a lot of respect for a young woman with strong principles, which you clearly do, but this is not the way to go about it.’
Dylan became a vegan almost four years ago after deciding it would be ‘morally inconsistent’ to care for animals while she continued to ‘hurt them’ by eating them.
‘If I ever saw an animal being hurt directly in front of me, it was something that really upset me,’ she said.
‘But, you know, not being shown the process of what happens in slaughterhouses, I didn’t think about it.
‘I knew that I felt uncomfortable on some level and as the years went by that feeling got more and more.
Dylan became a vegan nearly four years ago after researching the meat and animal products industry. (A slogan that was chalked outside the court this month)
Brighton station, where Dylan spat in the face of a woman wearing a £750 Canada Goose coat and called her a ‘piece of s***’
‘So then I decided that I should look. I had never thought how cows had to be forcibly impregnated and had their babies taken away. I didn’t know that was something that happened, free range or domestic.
‘I had been living near dairy farms in Somerset and seen cows, and thought they were so beautiful and gentle.
‘I thought it was morally inconsistent to keep hurting the animals I loved.’
She has been an animal lover ever since she was small. At the age of two Dylan told off a group of hare-hunters, her mother fondly remembers.
During her childhood she and her sister also rescued a kitten after they found it dumped in a bin.
Dylan was also convicted earlier this month for spitting in a woman’s face. She was ordered to pay £500 court costs, £150 compensation to Ms Boyle and an £85 surcharge.
Although the CCTV footage was unclear, judge Kelly said the accounts of the two witnesses were compelling, reports The Daily Express.
‘I am absolutely sure that Dylan Roffey did spit at Ms Boyle because she was angry and upset at not being listened to. She lost her temper.
‘It may have been completely out of character. She is a pleasant young woman with strong beliefs. But to deliberately spit at someone is a serious offence.’
Speaking about her other conviction, Dylan said she ‘did not regret’ speaking to people about what they were wearing.
‘Usually people who are wearing fur don’t know they are wearing fur,’ she said.
‘I spoke to them about it and told them it wasn’t acceptable. They were very upset to be called out, especially publicly.’
Canada Goose is known for using animal fur, including kaiyote’s, in some of its products.