Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Another squatting case collapses on appeal at Crown Court - defendant acquitted

vg | 07.11.2013 09:26 | Policing | Social Struggles | Wales

Resistance to s.144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) 2012 that outlaws squatting in residential buildings is growing. Ultimately, the law may prove unworkable and unenforceable.

Ten days ago, squatters occupied a residential council property in Southwark in protest at the sell-off of council houses and the criminalisation of squatting under s.144. Last week, a Brighton squatter was acquitted on appeal as the prosecution failed to prove he was living at the property. His two co-defendants had previously been acquitted on the same charge.

Yesterday, another case collapsed when the Crown Prosecution Service presented no evidence at Mold Crown Court against Tristan Dixon who was appealing his conviction under s.144.

Tristan's supporters set up a protest about homelessness and squatting on the court forecourt, complete with cardboard, sleeping bag, visual statistics about empty homes, teddy bear and a friendly dog on a piece of string. Flyers were offered to everyone entering or leaving the court. The protest proved very timely as no fewer than ten repossession cases were being heard that day in the County Court in the same building, four of them brought by the local Flintshire County Council.

2 million homeless
2 million homeless

830,000 privately owned empty homes and 80,000 kids homeless this Christmas
830,000 privately owned empty homes and 80,000 kids homeless this Christmas

Tristan joins the protest outside (under the cardboard, left)
Tristan joins the protest outside (under the cardboard, left)

80,000 empty affordable homes
80,000 empty affordable homes

G4S court security takes a flyer
G4S court security takes a flyer

inside the building Tristan was accused of squatting
inside the building Tristan was accused of squatting

another inside shot
another inside shot


Background to Tristan's case

PRESS RELEASE (from 31 October)

First ever Section 144 Squatting Appeal charade

I, Tristan Dixon, was arrested at around 5pm on 17th January 2013 in Moelfre, Powys for being in a formerly beautiful but completely derelict cottage by a lake, which the rich owner had unfortunately left abandoned to be condemned. It is common for property owners to build a larger holiday home once derelict status is given and so increase the value of the property.

 

I was illegally evicted by the police, who had not at that time even verified who the rightful owner of the house was, or had consent from the owner at that time(a legal requirement for eviction by police from a ‘residential’ property), instead being notified by neighbours. The property in question was in a bad state of disrepair needing extensive repairs to the roof, floor and walls to the tune of £60,000-90,000. My intention had never been to live in the property but to use the land to grow trees and vegetables. I was bailed to the Magistrates Court in Welshpool for trial.

 

Squatting peoples’ homes when the owners have gone on holiday has been illegal since 1994.  The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 protects ‘displaced residential occupiers’, and therefore squatters had no right to occupy a used residence which has been temporarily vacated. Section 144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill introduced September 2012 made it a criminal offence to sleep in abandoned or even completely derelict residential buildings, therefore making a homeless person sheltering from the elements in a wreck a ‘criminal’. Therefore making second and third etc homes protected no matter the condition.

 

I was convicted in the Magistrates Court of Squatting (a new offence under section 144 Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill brought in September 2012), and appealed the squatting conviction to the crown court. This is the first time a squatting case has been appealed to the crown court.

 

When the appeal was later heard in the crown court the Barrister and Solicitor representing me were astonished at the level of incompetence across the board; of the police (having charged me with an unlawful charge), my previous solicitor Stephen Scully from Lanyon Bowdler (not having noticed or challenged the charge previously), and the magistrates court (not having noticed that the charge was defective).  The appeal case has now been further adjourned to 6th NOVEMBER due to the confusion this caused.

 

In the interim I have recently received a letter from the CPS stating that; ‘there is No Public Interest in contesting the appeal’ and that I should ‘confirm so the matter can be dealt with administratively’. This is because they want to avoid humiliation when the matter goes to court, and also to avoid setting a precedent for future court cases. It is in the public interest to have the case heard, in order that vulnerable homeless that take a nights shelter in a ruined building may stand a better chance of 'fair' treatment.

 

However I have decided to continue with the appeal in court and will be attending court on 6th of November, as it is my legal right to a fair trial in the court, and this trial in court will set a precedent for future cases as mentioned, so you see its importance.

This is the second time a squatting conviction has been appealed in the UK crown court.

Yesterday's developments

In court yesterday, Tristan - who was represented by independent barrister Alistair Mitchell - attempted to assert his right for his case to be heard so that the relevant issues would be properly considered. He'd filed a motion to have the initial charge quashed. The Judge at the previous Crown Court hearing was reported to have been sympathetic and interested in legal aspects of the case but Judge Rowlands was not of the same mind, threatening Tristan with the possibility of exorbitant legal costs if he insisted on the case being heard.

Some of the issues over the original conviction were that the charge was ill-founded, failing to address knowledge of trespassing and charging Tristan with 'living' or 'intending to live' in the property without specifying any period of time, as well as conflating these two alleged offences ('living' and 'intending to live') into one, creating what was in effect an uncertain charge.

In the end, Tristan settled for an acquittal rather than insist on a full hearing with its associated cost risks, then came outside with his barrister to join the protest on the court concourse for another hour or so.

How to resist

In order to achieve convictions under s.144, the prosecution will have to prove 'living' or 'intending to live' and merely being in a building isn't enough. So, the advice is:

Don’t plead guilty. Presence in a building where someone is living is not enough, they have to prove with documentary evidence that you as an individual actually live there. So take our advice - give a 'no comment' interview and take it to trial.


vg

Comments

Display the following 5 comments

  1. Great news — H2O
  2. Disturbing — Jean Vidler
  3. Good one — inks
  4. yay — housingwar
  5. in my xp our courts system is good, the cps are douchebags — james
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech