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Press Releases & Updates 2004
8th September 2004
Seven Days in Jail for WMD Protest
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Adam Conway (25), from Northumberland, was sent to prison today by a magistrate in Helensburgh District Court for refusing on principle to pay a £175 fine he received for taking part in a protest at Coulport in Scotland, the storage depot for the United Kingdom’s weapons of mass destruction.
The case has been a long time in the pipeline. On 31st July 2001 Adam was one of a group of four who blockaded the Construction Gate at the Trident base, while three others blocked the main gate. In October 2002 he was found guilty of a breach of the peace by Justice of the Peace Fraser Gillies.
It was the same magistrate who dealt with the case today, as Adam was asked to give an account of why the fine had not been paid. Adam told the court that his conscience did not allow him to pay. The JP summarily sentenced him to seven days.
It is likely that Adam will serve his sentence in Greenock prison and be released on Friday, with the result that support mail to the prison is unlikely to reach him in time. However, messages of support can be sent to prisoners@tridentploughshares.org and they will be given to Adam on Monday when he again attends the Helensburgh court, this time for cutting through the perimeter fence at Coulport during the Trident Ploughshares camp there last August.
A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: "This magistrate’s distaste for peaceful protest against Trident is well known, so the outcome is no surprise. Adam was expecting a jail sentence and accepts that it is the natural result of persistently challenging the criminal behaviour of the British state. Meanwhile the real criminals sit comfortably in Whitehall."
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