After months or torturous legal proceedings, harassment and imprisonment, good news from Brighton's SmashEDO as, in March, the legal cases brought against them began to crumble.
Two anti-war activists have had a temporary injunction against them lifted and indemnity costs awarded to them by a High Court judge who issued a damning indictment of EDO MBM's conduct of the trial. Mr Justice Walker accused arms manufacturer EDO of “woeful neglect” of the issues in its preparations towards obtaining a permanent injunction. He criticised them for not prosecuting the case quickly enough, saying that ex-managing director of EDO, David Jones, “must have known” that the case was being “wilfully” dragged out.
Settlements
The original interim injunction was made by Mr Justice Gross under the Protection from Harassment Act and related to 12 activists - it prevented anti-war protests within 50 metres of EDO's premises, in Home Farm Road, Brighton.
In February, ten activists reached an out-of-court settlement with EDO, which involved the firm paying costs for the defendants and amending the injunction so that it only applied to named individuals and not unnamed protesters in general.
EDO's attempts to gain permanent injunctions against the two who refused to accept the settlement will continue, with their case due to be heard over the summer.