A Bristol lecturer and former Lib Dem candidate broke down in tears yesterday while being tried in court for causing major civil disruption as part of the Extinction Rebellion protests back in April. Dr Steve Melia claimed he had always “obeyed the law” despite being arrested twice in two days while blockading bridges and bringing London to a standstill back in April. The 57-year-old bawled as he was given a £500 fine plus costs of £300, blubbering that he had “never even had a parking ticket before.” Probably should have thought of that before causing millions of pounds of economic disruption, his fine is a drop in the ocean in comparison…

In fact the former Government transport adviser arguably misled the court as he does have a history of law-breaking – Melia lost his licence after driving through a red light as a teenager. Ironically crashing into the side of a van from the Police Accident Prevention Unit…

Appearing at Westminster Crown Court, the sobbing subversive performed a swift U-turn from his previous delight at being arrested – at the time he posted a beaming selfie on his website captioned “shortly before arrest at Extinction Rebellion action” and linking to a blog post where he wrote “I, and many others, have decided that we need civil disobedience”. Truly a revolutionary to inspire a generation…