Sussex police placed spies in the anti-fracking camp at Balcombe, Sussex, last year, and used ‘electronic interception’, in order to discover activists’ plans – which they then shared with the drilling company, Cuadrilla.
This was revealed by a police technology blunder at the end of June (trying to cover up a sentence in a Word document that was released under the Freedom of Information Act).
The 126 arrests made by Sussex police during Balcombe days of action resulted in 114 charges against 90 activists. There were only 29 convictions.
Topics: Fracking