Press Releases & Updates 1998

The charges arose from their disarmament activity on Thursday last, 12th November, when they were arrested while cutting their way through the perimeter fence at the RNAD Coulport where the UK’s Trident nuclear warheads are stored. They also forfeited the equipment they carried, including bolt-cutters, glue and saws, with which they planned to damage the installations within.

Peter, a former officer in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, said:

"JP McPhail was unfortunately unable to see the obvious connection between our actions and the existence of illegal nuclear weapons. As a result he did not allow me to present my case effectively. Since the UK’s weapons of mass destruction are still in place and ready to be used I have to continue my disarmament action. If I end up in court again, so be it. That will give me another chance to improve the magistrates’ understanding of the relevance of international law to the local courts. As a teacher I was forced into early retirement because of my commitment to peace education. That commitment continues.

In my officer training in the early fifties, there was mention of the Nuremberg Principles and our duty to refuse an illegal order from a senior officer. The advent of Britain’s nuclear system has sullied that commitment. We have gone back rather than forwards."

Rupert, a nature conservation warden, said:

"I have committed no crime but I’d rather be branded as a common criminal than a war criminal. We did not get as far as we hoped at Coulport but we would have been wrong to have done nothing just because we feared we could only do a little."

Two TP2000 activists are still in prison. Sylvia Boyes is in Cornton Vale and appears in court next Wednesday, the 25th November. Brian Quail is in Greenock Prison and will be in court on Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th November.

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