TAMIL independence campaigners may have “faked” their outrage after receiving throat-slitting gestures from a Sri Lankan military attache, a London court heard today.

Army Brigadier Priyanka Fernando, who is linked to the shelling of a hospital during Sri Lanka’s civil war, was caught on camera making the chilling hand gesture towards members of the country’s Tamil minority.

Three activists lodged complaints immediately after the incident, which took place at a protest outside the Sri Lankan embassy in London in February last year.

The Metropolitan Police did not bring charges and a private prosecution then followed.

In January 2019 the brigadier was convicted in absentia of causing “harassment, alarm and distress.”

His conviction under the Public Order Act was struck off in March amid fears it could jeopardise the principle of diplomatic immunity.

A retrial was set for May 7, but on April 29 the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it wanted to consider taking over the case and needed 63 days to decide.

Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot convened an urgent hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today to discuss the latest “twist and turn” in a case that she said “has had a torturous history.”

Defence barrister Nicholas Wayne asked for the trial to be adjourned, saying that only the CPS can ensure a fair trial by disclosing evidence from the abortive police investigation, such as the original complaints lodged by the Tamil protesters.

He said the case “comes down to whether this is confected outrage by the protesters or whether the harassment, alarm and distress that they refer to in their statements is genuine or not.”

The private prosecution argued that the most helpful disclosure for the defence could be the embassy’s own CCTV footage, which police officers suspected was wiped.

The judge decided to adjourn the trial to allow more time for the CPS to disclose evidence and possibly take over the prosecution.

Ms Arbuthnot said it was “more important to ensure the defence get a fair trial” and she felt “uncomfortable proceeding” until the CPS has carried out its disclosure.

All parties will update each other by email on May 31 and a new trial date has not yet been agreed.