UK Climate Chaos Newswire Archive
IMPORTANT: A respectful request to all activists regarding Mark "Stone"
11-01-2011 12:59
In the wake of the Mark "Stone" story breaking in the mainstream media yesterday, a lot of journalists are trying their best to dig out all the gorey personal details. They are phoning up lots of activists and trying to find out more information. You may be one of those activists.Undercover police officer back in the spotlight
11-01-2011 10:25
The Met Police are facing serious questions and the threat of an investigation into the role of one of their undercover officers. PC Mark Kennedy infiltrated activist groups between 2003-2009. On Monday, the second trial relating to planned action at Ratcliffe on Soar power station collapsed after the prosecution offered no evidence. This is believed to be an attempt to conceal the extent of involvement of their undercover officer, Kennedy, who was one of those arrested in connection with the action. He was described as having taken a leading role in planning the action and has been described as an agent provocateur by some.
Newswire: Second Ratcliffe trial collapses | Ratcliffe Trial: Media interest outside court | Ratcliffe: 2nd Court Case of 6 activist Collapses
Previous feature: Mark Kennedy/Stone exposed as undercover
Over the last few weeks, 20 protestors had been appearing in Nottingham crown Court, accused of conspiring to shut down the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station. They were found guilty and were sentenced on the 5th January.
Today was to have been the beginning of a trial of a further 6 people arrested during the police Operation Aeroscope in which 114 people had been arrested by Nottinghamshire Police to prevent the action going ahead.
Integral to this case is the revelations of the work of the undercover Metropolitan Police Officer Mark Kennedy.
Mike Schwarz,a solicitor at the Bindmans law firm who represented the activists, said last night:
“I have no doubt that our attempts to get disclosure about Kennedy’s role has led to the collapse of the trial. It is no coincidence that just 48 hours after we told the CPS our clients could not receive a fair trial unless they disclosed material about Kennedy, they halted the prosecution. Given that Kennedy was, until recently, willing to assist the defence, one has to ask if the police were facing up to the possibility their undercover agent had turned native.”
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer was spotted in Nottingham Crown Court this morning. A few of us were wondering if that his presence had anything to do with the trial collapse? A couple of journalist asked court staff if this was so. But, no!! Apparently he was on a routine visit to the court. We looked at each other and said: “yea right” at the same time :-)
Sitting in Court 3 the defendant initially seated in the dock glass tank! were invited to seating within the court. Before His Honour Judge Milmo QC, Miss Felicity Gerry for the prosecution said that on last Wednesday 5th January, the Crown Prosecution Service undertook a review of the case and that as a result, the crown had decided to offer no evidence. The judge therefore declares all six defendants not guilty. The defendant were represented by six individual barristers each of which then applied to the court for an assortment of legal and travel costs all being agreed by the judge.
He then rose.
The whole gig done and dusted in under ten minutes!
Of course the defendants had had this case hanging over their lives since Easter 2009. Obviously being in possession of more of the facts than they had let on. It would of course have been nice if the prosecution might have alleviated their distress by pulling the plug earlier. But no!
Outside, speaking on the court steps, solicitor Mick Schwartz said that the reason for the collapse of the trial was that:
“Previously unavailable material that significantly undermines the prosecution’s case came to light on Wednesday 5 January’. The discovery of this material came at the time when the prosecution were informed that we planned to pursue disclosure of the evidence relating to PC Kennedy with the judge. Unsurprisingly, they have declined to confirm whether the new material relates to PC Kennedy. In my opinion the two are obviously connected. The timing speaks for itself. These events also beg wider, serious questions. Would this evidence have been uncovered had the defence not become aware of it through other avenues?”
The primary difference in the defence operated in these two trials was that the first 20 said in court, that they were going to carry out the action that they were accused of, but claimed that it was ‘necessary’. A lawful excuse for action. This latest trial of the six, would have said that yes, they were there, but had not decided whether to have taken part in any action, or not. PC Kennedy being present there, might have been able to help the court with that!!
It seems obvious to me that with the scale of the climate emergency in front of us, these and similar cases are only just the beginning. As time progresses runs out, many other concerned citizens will be taking direct actions on these issues. The law will of course be 47 steps behind, uncertain if action is necessary or not, or, if democracy and political process can save us. Having heard all the evidence from the last trial ….. I think not. Personally, I hope one day, the law might progress that we can eventually take action against companies / government for the new offence of ecocide, rather than defending individual peoples actions to be ‘necessary’.
Why we need a law on ecocide – Polly Higgins barrister, international environmental lawyer Guardian 5 January 2011
www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-gree...
This Is Ecocide | Making the destruction of our planet a crime
www.thisisecocide.com
I wish everyone with concerns about our future, the very best in any action they can take to help us protect it. For all future generations and species on the planet. My thanks.
+
Mike Schwarz’s of Bindmans Solicitors statement on undercover policeman Mark Kennedy and the Ratcliffe trial
On Easter Monday 2009 over 400 police officers were involved in a raid at Iona school in Nottingham, which led to 114 arrests. I represented 113 of those arrested. The 114th we now know was PC Kennedy, an undercover police officer. Six of my clients were due to face a long trial starting today. However, the prosecution told the defence on Friday 7th January 2011, just before the trial was due to begin, and almost 20 months after the investigation began, that ‘Previously unavailable material that significantly undermines the prosecution’s case came to light on Wednesday 5 January’. The discovery of this material came at the time when the prosecution were informed that we planned to pursue disclosure of the evidence relating to PC Kennedy with the judge. Unsurprisingly, they have declined to confirm whether the new material relates to PC Kennedy. In my opinion the two are obviously connected. The timing speaks for itself. These events also beg wider, serious questions. Would this evidence have been uncovered had the defence not become aware of it through other avenues? And is it appropriate that access to, and decisions about, disclosure of key evidence should exclusively be in the hands of a prosecution whose primary function is to secure convictions? Let me be clear about this. My clients were not guilty. They did not agree to join in any plan to occupy the power station. The evidence of PC Kennedy presumably confirmed this. Yet that evidence, had it been kept secret, could have led to a miscarriage of justice. Serious questions must be asked relating to the policing of protest, from the use of undercover officers, to the use of expensive and legally questionable mass pre-emptive arrest of protesters, to extremely restrictive pre-charge bail condition, to the seemingly arbitrary nature by which the 114 initially arrested were reduced to the final 26 who were eventually charged. The police need to answer some serious questions about their conduct relating to protesters generally.
Release the Kennedy Files
11-01-2011 01:13
The dramatic collapse of the trial of the remaining six Ratcliffe power station defendants has been seriously misrepresented.
Ratcliffe: 2nd Court Case of 6 activist Collapses
10-01-2011 18:23
Today was to have been the beginning of a trial of a further 6 people arrested during the police Operation Aeroscope
Ratcliffe: 2nd Court Case of 6 activist Collapses
Over the last few weeks, 20 protestors had been appearing in Nottingham crown Court, accused of conspiring to shut down the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station. They were found guilty and were sentenced on the 5th January.
Today was to have been the beginning of a trial of a further 6 people arrested during the police Operation Aeroscope in which 114 people had been arrested by Nottinghamshire Police to prevent the action going ahead.
Integral to this case is the revelations of the work of the undercover Metropolitan Police Officer Mark Kennedy.
Mark 'Stone/Kennedy' exposed as undercover police officer? - Indymedia UK 21 October 2010
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/10/466477.html
Mike Schwarz,a solicitor at the Bindmans law firm who represented the activists, said last night:
"I have no doubt that our attempts to get disclosure about Kennedy's role has led to the collapse of the trial. It is no coincidence that just 48 hours after we told the CPS our clients could not receive a fair trial unless they disclosed material about Kennedy, they halted the prosecution. Given that Kennedy was, until recently, willing to assist the defence, one has to ask if the police were facing up to the possibility their undercover agent had turned native."
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer was spotted in Nottingham Crown Court this morning. A few of us were wondering if that his presence had anything to do with the trial collapse? A couple of journalist asked court staff if this was so. But, no!! Apparently he was on a routine visit to the court. We looked at each other and said: "yea right" at the same time :-)
Sitting in Court 3 the defendant initially seated in the dock [glass tank!] were invited to seating within the court. Before His Honour Judge Milmo QC, Miss Felicity Gerry for the prosecution said that on last Wednesday [5th January], the Crown Prosecution Service undertook a review of the case and that as a result, the crown had decided to offer no evidence. The judge therefore declares all six defendants not guilty. The defendant were represented by six individual barristers each of which then applied to the court for an assortment of legal and travel costs all being agreed by the judge.
He then rose.
The whole gig done and dusted in under ten minutes!
Of course the defendants had had this case hanging over their lives since Easter 2009. Obviously being in possession of more of the facts than they had let on. It would of course have been nice if the prosecution might have alleviated their distress by pulling the plug earlier. But no!
Outside, speaking on the court steps, solicitor Mick Schwartz said that the reason for the collapse of the trial was that:
"Previously unavailable material that significantly undermines the prosecution's case came to light on Wednesday 5 January'. The discovery of this material came at the time when the prosecution were informed that we planned to pursue disclosure of the evidence relating to PC Kennedy with the judge. Unsurprisingly, they have declined to confirm whether the new material relates to PC Kennedy. In my opinion the two are obviously connected. The timing speaks for itself. These events also beg wider, serious questions. Would this evidence have been uncovered had the defence not become aware of it through other avenues?"
The primary difference in the defence operated in these two trials was that the first 20 said in court, that they were going to carry out the action that they were accused of, but claimed that it was 'necessary'. A lawful excuse for action. This latest trial of the six, would have said that yes, they were there, but had not decided whether to have taken part in any action, or not. PC Kennedy being present there, might have been able to help the court with that!!
It seems obvious to me that with the scale of the climate emergency in front of us, these [and similar] cases are only just the beginning. As time progresses [runs out], many other concerned citizens will be taking direct actions on these issues. The law will of course be 47 steps behind, uncertain if action is necessary or not, or, if democracy and political process can save us. Having heard all the evidence from the last trial ..... I think not. Personally, I hope one day, the law might progress that we can eventually take action against companies / government for the new offence of ecocide, rather than defending individual peoples actions to be 'necessary'.
Why we need a law on ecocide - Polly Higgins barrister, international environmental lawyer Guardian 5 January 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2011/jan/05/ecocide-law-ratcliffe
This Is Ecocide | Making the destruction of our planet a crime
http://www.thisisecocide.com
I wish everyone with concerns about our future, the very best in any action they can take to help us protect it. For all future generations and species on the planet. My thanks.
+++
Mike Schwarz's of Bindmans Solicitors statement on undercover policeman Mark Kennedy and the Ratcliffe trial
On Easter Monday 2009 over 400 police officers were involved in a raid at Iona school in Nottingham, which led to 114 arrests. I represented 113 of those arrested. The 114th we now know was PC Kennedy, an undercover police officer. Six of my clients were due to face a long trial starting today. However, the prosecution told the defence on Friday 7th January 2011, just before the trial was due to begin, and almost 20 months after the investigation began, that 'Previously unavailable material that significantly undermines the prosecution's case came to light on Wednesday 5 January'. The discovery of this material came at the time when the prosecution were informed that we planned to pursue disclosure of the evidence relating to PC Kennedy with the judge. Unsurprisingly, they have declined to confirm whether the new material relates to PC Kennedy. In my opinion the two are obviously connected. The timing speaks for itself. These events also beg wider, serious questions. Would this evidence have been uncovered had the defence not become aware of it through other avenues? And is it appropriate that access to, and decisions about, disclosure of key evidence should exclusively be in the hands of a prosecution whose primary function is to secure convictions? Let me be clear about this. My clients were not guilty. They did not agree to join in any plan to occupy the power station. The evidence of PC Kennedy presumably confirmed this. Yet that evidence, had it been kept secret, could have led to a miscarriage of justice. Serious questions must be asked relating to the policing of protest, from the use of undercover officers, to the use of expensive and legally questionable mass pre-emptive arrest of protesters, to extremely restrictive pre-charge bail condition, to the seemingly arbitrary nature by which the 114 initially arrested were reduced to the final 26 who were eventually charged. The police need to answer some serious questions about their conduct relating to protesters generally.
Undercover officer spied on green activists - Rob Evans and Paul Lewis Guardian 9 January 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/09/undercover-office-green-activists
Mark Kennedy: A journey from undercover cop to 'bona fide' activist - Rob Evans and Paul Lewis Guardian 10 January 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/10/mark-kennedy-undercover-cop-activist
http://ratcliffeontrial.org
____________________________________________
ALAN LODGE
Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham. UK
Email: tash@indymedia.org
Web: http://digitaljournalist.eu
Member of the National Union of Journalists [NUJ]
____________________________________________
"It is not enough to curse the darkness.
It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"
___________________________________________
<ends>
The Machines Change, the Work Remains the Same
10-01-2011 09:52
When I first got involved in left/radical political organizing in the 1990s, I don’t recall any of us referring to our efforts as “phone activism” or calling ourselves “fax activists.” A friend who started organizing in the early 1960s assured me that he never heard the term “mimeograph activism” in those days. We used telephones, fax machines, and mimeographs in our organizing work, but the machines didn’t define our work and we didn’t spend a lot of time arguing about the implications of using them.Full article | 1 addition | 26 comments
Ratcliffe trial collapses!
10-01-2011 02:36
mass killings of penguins, manatees,dolphins,bats, pelicans, blackbirds, doves,
09-01-2011 05:43
In the December of 2010 and January of 2011 the mass killings of manyliving beings from penguins to birds and fishes has exploded.
Cold Winter? Global Warming?
08-01-2011 17:31
Leeds Toxic incinerator meeting
08-01-2011 12:31
Consultation in to the South Leeds Toxic waste incinerator .
Dissident Island Radio tonight!
07-01-2011 18:16
Full article | 1 addition | 1 comment
Newbury Bypass walk (15th anniversary of the evictions)
07-01-2011 15:52
Scale of Opencast Mining in England Revealed
06-01-2011 19:41
A group in Leicestershire has produced evidence about the current and possible future locations for opencast coal mining.in England. In all it identifies 23 Current sites and 43 potential sites.The evidence is in the form of a two part review and it has been produced to support the arguments for the 500 Metre Buffer Zone Bill which gets its 2nd Reading in the House of Commons on 11/2/11.Oxford climate activists sentenced - Ratcliffe
05-01-2011 17:34
Today 18 of the 20 activists, several of them from in or around Oxford, found guilty of conspiring to commit aggregated trespass in order to shut down Ratcliffe on Soar power station were sentenced.Judge sentences 18 of Ratcliffe defendants
05-01-2011 17:01
At 2pm today, 18 of the 20 defendants were sentenced after being found guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass in December. The judge addressed each defendant individually, commenting on their previous convictions and the strength of their character, before passing their sentences. The judge spoke broadly about the defendants’ qualities as a whole – commending them for their references, which repeatedly described them as ‘honest’, ‘dedicated’, ‘committed’, ‘intelligent’ and ‘caring’.Sizewell blockaders again walk free from court / case dismissed
05-01-2011 11:05
Two anti nuclear campaigners, Andreas Speck (46) from London and Ian Mills (45) from Chippenham, who appeared at Lowestoft Magistrates Court today (4 January) on charges of "failing to leave land" (S69(3)(a) CJPOA 1994) when they blockaded Sizewell nuclear power station in Suffolk on 22 February 2010 [1] walked free after the case was dismissed when the prosecution did not offer any evidence.
Report on the original action (Feb 2010):
Local Democracy Dumped! - Sizewell nuclear plant blockaded again
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/02/446513.html Press Release (Tuesday 4 January 2011):
http://stopnuclearpower.blogspot.com/2011/01/anti-nuclear-campaigners-again-walk.html See also:
Activists 2 - EDF 0
https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/01/471549.html Sizewell: Protesters walk free after CPS error
http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/sizewell_protesters_walk_free_after_cps_error_1_766391 Biodiversity: Peak Nature?
04-01-2011 23:32
Activists 2 - EDF 0
04-01-2011 17:17
Sizewell Blockade day one of a four day trial- Activist 2- EDF 0For the second time in Lowestoft Magistrate courts- in court three, activists who blockaded Sizewell nuclear power station in Suffolk walk free.
Huhne must tackle broadcasting bias
04-01-2011 16:40
News broadcasters have virtually stopped referring to scientific predictions that global warming will lead to disaster. However, they are continually reporting predictions about the future which assume that global warming will have no impact in 2050 and beyond. In effect, people are being told that Global Warming is not a problem.Transforming Power for Climate Action
04-01-2011 00:05
Hand Off Our Forest
26-12-2010 15:13
Rally at Speech House, Forest of Dean, January 3rd
