Page:R v McBride (No 4).pdf/37

 181․ At page 67:

182․ He described at pages 78–79 having prepared the IGADF Submission between May and August 2014:

183․ Even taking into account the decline in Mr McBride's mental state following his return from Afghanistan, I do not accept that he held a belief that what he was doing was not a criminal offence. He was not such a bad lawyer as to have genuinely reached a legal conclusion along the lines expressed in his interview. Rather, he had a hope at the time that his actions would ultimately be vindicated in some way other than by being found to be legally correct. I consider that the statements he made to police at the time were reflective of a desire to justify his conduct in the context of having been charged and that they expressed a hope that there may be some legally plausible defence, but did not