Christiaan Briggs

Christiaan Briggs

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.

According to court testimony, Leeson had been on a bus coming back from a sell-out London gig when his girlfriend complained that Briggs was staring at her.

Leeson told Briggs to "look elsewhere" and, after they exchanged words, got off the bus in Camden.

Briggs followed and as Leeson walked off, punched him on his left cheek.

Earlier the court heard Terry Lavell, prosecuting, say: "They were strangers on the bus. They were in an argument and it escalated and it resulted in a tragedy."

The singer suffered a fractured skull and had to undergo a five-hour operation during which surgeons removed a piece of bone to lessen pressure on his brain.

He was in hospital for six weeks and had to learn to walk again.

According to the BBC website, Briggs' defence counsel Bartholomew Cosella said Briggs was a "committed pacifist" who had devoted himself to "trying to make the world a better place".

- NZHERALD STAFF