Press Releases & Updates 2001

Patricia Williamson (54), from Bournemouth, and Helen Steven (58), Coordinator of the Scottish Centre for Nonviolence in Dunblane, were on trial today in Helensburgh District Court for an alleged breach of the peace. Both were found guilty and fined £200 by Justice of the Peace Fraser Gillies. This was £50 lower than the usual JP Gillies tariff, perhaps reflecting the fact that earlier this week the Scottish High Court upheld an appeal against a sentence imposed by him on a peace activist. Patricia told him: "You have a wonderful opportunity to show your allegiance. Are you a privileged servant of the Almighty God or are you the lackey of a corrupt state?"

In her plea of mitigation Helen said: "Of course I’m guilty of a breach of the peace. What kind of peace is it that can say nothing and do nothing in the face of Trident? I want to disturb the peace of the politicians who threaten annihilation, of those who work for Trident without facing the reality of how deadly it is, of the police who are "just doing their job" without realising that that was the defence at Nuremberg, and of the judicial system that is so blinded by petty detail that it loses sight of justice. I want to keep on disturbing my own peace until nuclear weapons are recognised for the total evil they are and eliminated."

The Quaker theologian Alistair McIntosh (45), from Kinghorn, turned up for trial only to be told that his plea of not guilty had now been accepted due to some "trouble with the witnesses". Alistair picked up his impressive pile of legal papers and in his inimitable Lewis accent told JP Gillies: "Well, they will do just fine for the next time."

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