[7] Four years afterward, he gave a suspended sentence to a man who had driven into the Downing Street security gates and been caught with extreme child abuse images on his phone,[8] having allowed him to cite autism, ADHD, and diabetes as arguments.
His sentences, which drew audible gasps from the gallery,[12] were criticised by the United Nations officials Michel Forst[13] and Volker Türk[14] and by the scientist Bill McGuire.
[15] In addition, over 1,200 artists, athletes, and academics including the former Archbishop Rowan Williams, the musicians Chris Martin, Annie Lennox, and the author Philip Pullman signed a letter to the Attorney General for England and Wales condemning the sentences.
[17] Later that month,[18] Hehir convicted Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland of criminal damage for throwing soup at a painting of Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh.
[9] His sentences were also criticised by Alan Rusbridger, who also noted that Hehir manned a private Twitter account that used as its profile picture an image of the corrupt and incompetent lawyer Lionel Hutz from The Simpsons,[5] and Nadya Tolokonnikova,[24] though Celia Walden was less sympathetic to Plummer and Holland.