Trials & legal cases

1 April 2012News

On 19 March, Barbara Dowling was given a three-month sentence for painting ‘political graffiti’ on the internal walls of Dunbarton sheriff court in 2010.

Accomplice Janet Fenton, who is secretary of Scottish CND, was given 120 hours community service.

In 2010, the women had appeared at the court accused of a breach of the peace during a blockade of Faslane naval base.

During their trial, the pair were barred from arguing the case that they had a right to disrupt the illegal work at Faslane under international humanitarian law. In response they painted slogans indicating the failure of the court to uphold international…

13 March 2012Blog

Manchester peace protester has 'no case to answer' after being wounded by police but still faces charges from a separate arrest.

I haven't written for a month or two due to personal circumstances but now I'm back in the land of the living I'd like you all to hear about a Manchester peace protester and his court cases. Usman Hamid (affectionately known as Mani) has protested for a long time often as a single protester with hand-written placards as well as in groups, and always, always peacefully. The Manchester Evening News (M.E.N.) covered his story recently, on…

24 January 2012News

High court rules on St Paul's occupation

On 17 January, high court judge Keith Lindblom ruled that Occupy LSX, the tent city that has stood in front of London’s St Paul’s Cathedral since 15 October, was unlawfully obstructing a public highway.

Enforcement was delayed until 24 January (after PN goes to press) to allow time for an appeal.

However, despite the prospect of losing the birthplace of the UK’s Occupy movement, residents of the St Paul’s Cathedral encampment told PN  they were not discouraged by the ruling. …

24 January 2012News in Brief

At least 400 people across the UK are being prosecuted for not completing last year’s national census. Many of them refused on grounds of conscience, protesting against the involvement of US arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin in data capture and processing.

On 17 January, Derek Shields, 57, from the Wirral, was found guilty of not completing the census and was fined £75. He has announced that he does not intend to pay the fine.

John Voysey from Herefordshire, who was a…

24 January 2012Letter

Thank you for the article on the fate of those who refused to fill in the 2011 census forms. (PN 2540-41).

The statements they will make in their own defence will be very interesting and helpful. I hope you can print some of them in an issue of Peace News.

1 September 2011News in Brief

In July, Camilla Berens was fined £200 and Michelle Jackson £95 after pleading guilty to obstructing the highway. In April they blockaded all four lanes of the A302 outside the HQ of EDF energy company and alongside the grounds of Buckingham palace for six hours, using tripods, in protest at EDF’s plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations in the UK. The demo was organised by the “EDF Boycott Campaign”.
For brilliant video of event, see:…

1 September 2011News in Brief

The 20 climate activists convicted of conspiring to shut down Ratcliffe coal power station had their convictions overturned by the Court of Appeal in July, following the revelation earlier this year that the CPS had not disclosed evidence gathered by undercover cop Mark Kennedy which could have been useful to their defence. The ruling described Kennedy as “arguably an agent provocateur.”

13 August 2011Feature

On 13 November last year, the House of Lords gave its judgement on the long running Fairford Coach Action case. It was a complete victory on all points for Jane Laporte who had taken the test case. However, the devil is in the detail. Andy Meinke takes a goodlook at the judgement and what it means for future protests.

Just the facts M'Lud...

On 22 March 2003, three coaches carrying around 120 protesters travelled to USAF Fairford from London for an anti-war demonstration. It was the first weekend of the Iraq War. They were stopped and searched at the village of Lechlade, three miles from Fairford. After being held for two hours they were let back on the coaches, but instead of being allowed to proceed to the authorised demonstration they were forcibly escorted, non-stop, back to London. (For…

13 August 2011Feature

During the Big Blockade of Faslane on 1 October 2007, Emily Freeman was arrested. Charged with breach of the peace, she was finally brought to trial in Helensburgh on 18 May 2008. Reflecting rather badly on police competence, the case was dropped due to lack of evidence. Here is an excerpt from Emily’s defence, which deserves a hearing:
Breach of the peace is defined as “conduct which does present as genuinely alarming and disturbing, in its context, to any reasonable person…

1 July 2011News

Two trials at Newbury magistrates’ court for actions at the Aldermaston nuclear weapons factory in Berkshire have resulted in six convictions.

On 1-2 June, Ray Bradford, Janet Fenton and Gillian Lawrence defended themselves against the charge of criminal trespass on a protected nuclear site, under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA), arising out of the Trident Ploughshares Big Blockade in February 2010.

The judge apparently paid attention to the defendants’ human rights and international humanitarian law arguments. All three were sentenced to only three months’ conditional discharge and costs of only £50 each…

1 July 2011News

Five anti-Trident activists acquitted after prosecution fails to make adequate case.

Five defendants arrested at the Devonport blockade in November 2010 went free after appearing before Plymouth magistrates on 9-10 June.

Three Scottish defendants, who had locked-on across the gate to the dock where Trident nuclear submarines are serviced, had been charged with “obstruction of a constable”. The prosecution tried to change this at the hearing to “obstruction of the highway”. The District Judge dismissed the cases because “obstruction of the highway” was a summary…

1 July 2011News in Brief

Climate activists are collecting funds to cover the E30,000 court costs of Tannie Nyboe and Stine Gry Jonassen, who on 1 June were sentenced by the Danish high court to two months in prison (plus two months suspended) for their involvement in nonviolent civil disobedience on 16 December 2009 during the failed climate negotiations in Copenhagen. The main evidence against Tannie and Stine, Danish spokespeople for the global network Climate Justice Action, was that they allegedly shouted “push…

1 June 2011News in Brief

Peace activist and PN columnist Maya Evans won a judicial review at the high court on 12 May, overturning a new rule introduced last year ending legal aid for applicants who would not directly benefit from their claims. Maya had already successfully challenged the Ministry of Defence’s policy of handing over detainees in Afghanistan to the local police.

Maya, from the peace group Justice Not Vengeance, said: “The Ministry of Defence has tried to cut off funding for politically…

1 June 2011News in Brief

Late news: On 5 April, long-time peace activist Lindis Percy was found “not guilty” of trespass at the US air force base at Mildenhall, Suffolk, under section 128 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act. The case dated back to her hour-long tour of Mildenhall on 30 October 2009, after being permitted to enter by a US guard, Kyler Sherman Brown, who now denies ever seeing Lindis. Crucial CCTV footage has mysteriously gone “missing”. The district judge at Bury St Edmunds magistrates’…

1 May 2011News in Brief

In the aftermath of the Mark Kennedy affair, the director of public prosecutions has written to 20 environmental activists recommending that they appeal against criminal convictions as police suppressed potentially crucial evidence from Kennedy, an undercover police officer. The 20 were among 114 activists arrested in April 2009 while planning an action at the Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power station.