Unhinged

A follow-up on my continuing series tracking Peace Activists Gone Wild:

A New Zealand peace activist has been jailed in Britain for eight months for attacking a rock singer leaving him in a coma.

Christiaan Briggs, who acted as a human shield in Iraq, admitted punching 19-year-old singer Billy Leeson following an argument on a late night bus.

Mr Leeson, lead singer of rock band Les Incompetents, who have supported Pete Doherty’s group Babyshambles, fell into a coma when he hit his head on the pavement in Camden, north London.

According to press reports, Former Napier resident Briggs was jailed for eight months by Judge Peter Birts QC who said that prison was inevitable despite Briggs’ “genuine remorse”.

He said Briggs had injured “someone who was so talented and gave pleasure to so many others in life”.

Briggs spent three weeks in Iraq with the Truth Justice Peace Human Shield Action Group in 2003 and was a former British Green Party candidate.