Rape crisis worker jailed for contempt given bail

A women's rights activist jailed for three weeks for contempt of court was freed on bail of £50 by a magistrate in Northern Ireland…

A women's rights activist jailed for three weeks for contempt of court was freed on bail of £50 by a magistrate in Northern Ireland yesterday.

At a court in Newtownards, Co Down, Mr John Fyffe ordered the immediate release of Mrs Eileen Calder, a worker at the Belfast rape crisis centre. The mother of seven plans to appeal against the sentence.

She was jailed for 21 days last Friday after she refused to apologise for an outburst in which she challenged a £500 fine imposed on an anti-paedophile campaigner convicted of disorderly behaviour.

Mrs Calder was immediately taken to the women's wing at Maghaberry Prison.

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Mrs Calder's eldest daughter, Tina, said: "There are thousands of rapists, perverts and murderers walking freely on the outside and my mother was jailed for speaking her mind."