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Harrison continued, “The woke police is out there, and this poor girl, Rachel, who has just been thrown to the lions. I don’t know how you’re equipped when you’ve never done this before, to be woke enough, to be eloquent enough, to be ready to handle this.”

She said she wanted to walk out of court as she was about to step into the witness box as she felt she had been "thrown to the lions".

For writer Beverley Nichols, who was a young reporter at the time and was present throughout the trial, the case had the air of "the days of the Roman Empire when the Christians were thrown to the lions".

Harrison also spoke at length about his sympathy for Kirkconnell: "This poor girl Rachael, who has just been thrown to the lions — I don't how you are equipped when you have never done this before to be woke enough, to be eloquent enough, to be ready to handle this," he said, "I'm not sure why we're so ready to throw this poor woman in the river."

But at the time of the “Extra” interview, when Lindsay brought up the allegations about Kirkconnell, Harrison went on the defensive, saying, “The woke police is out there, and this poor girl Rachael has just been thrown to the lions.”