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Four Aldermaston blockaders acquitted!

Trident Ploughshares Media | 12.11.2009 16:23 | Anti-militarism | Oxford

News just through from Reading Magistrates' Court that four people who took part in the Aldermaston Big Blockade on 27 October 2008 have been found not guilty of obstructing the highway by virtue of the prosecution failing to prove that they were in fact on a highway.

District Judge Peter Crabtree did, however, not accept the defence's assertion that the Atomic Weapons Establishment is engaged in unlawful activity.

The successful defendants, who have each been awarded costs, are Jean Oliver from Lanarkshire in Scotland, David Polden and Emma Sangster, both from London, and Renate Zauner from Switzerland.

The trial took place on 21-22 October, 2009, but the defendants had to return to court this afternoon to hear the judgment.

A fifth defendant, Barbara Dowling, from Glasgow, pleaded guilty on 21 October and was given an 18-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £85 in costs.

For further information and quotes, see earlier press releases:
 http://www.tridentploughshares.org/article1579
 http://www.tridentploughshares.org/article1578

See also:
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/11/441564.html

Aldermaston blockade blog:
 http://blockawe.blogspot.com

Trident Ploughshares Media
- e-mail: media [at] tridentploughshares.org
- Homepage: http://www.tridentploughshares.org

Comments

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Well done!

12.11.2009 18:27

Congratulations to all concerned! There IS some justice in the world!

Gregory Beetle

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Helping Barack justify his Nobel peace prize

12.11.2009 18:56

Congratulations fantastic wow etc!!!!!!!!!!!

Shhhh
- Homepage: http://Obama's Angels

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i dont get it

13.11.2009 00:15

whats to stop someon blocking the way into my house in a similar way?
Or blocking the gate into my garden?

sounds a bit fucked up to me

ted

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IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

what is there to not get?

13.11.2009 02:34

Ted are you manufacturing nuclear warheads in your garden shed or something?otherwise why would anyone want to block your gate? or are you just a bit thick?

disarmer

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Correction + response to Ted

13.11.2009 07:25

Correction: the original action took place on 27 October 2008.

Response to Ted: If someone wilfully obstructs a private road without lawful authority or excuse, they would presumably be expected to be charged, if at all, with aggravated trespass; or in this case under the Ministry of Defence (MoD) land bylaws for AWE Aldermaston. The MoD, however, seem exceedingly reluctant to pursue either of these charges, so they always fall back, often inappropriately we believe, on the good old Highways Act. The defendants in this case successfully argued that they were on an access road on MoD land (outside the nuclear licensed site covered by SOCPA s.128, where mere trespass is a criminal offence), not on a highway, and that there was no evidence to suggest that traffic on the highway itself was significantly obstructed as a consequence of their action.

Trident Ploughshares Media
mail e-mail: media [at] tridentploughshares.org
- Homepage: http://www.tridentploughshares.org

The judge is a Royal Navy Captain!

13.11.2009 13:21

Interestingly, it appears that District Judge Peter Dixon Crabtree OBE is a Royal Navy Captain, appointed as a District Judge in November 2005:  http://bit.ly/XGHma
Whether that makes him pro- or anti-Trident is anyone's guess!

Trident Ploughshares Media
mail e-mail: media [at] tridentploughshares.org
- Homepage: http://www.tridentploughshares.org

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