Press Releases & Updates 2004

"I never cease to be astonished!" "Just when you think they have exhausted their potential for peculiar behaviour they pull another rabbit out of the hat!" "Knowing this place, I am gobsmacked to be gobsmacked again, but yes, I am gobsmacked." "Well, they defend Tony Blair’s weapons of mass destruction, so I suppose it is optimistic to expect either logic or courtesy."

These were the comments made after another bizarre day in Helensburgh District Court, where peace campaigners active at Faslane and Coulport, the nearby nuclear weapons bases, are held to account for breaching the peace, malicious mischief and other crimes of the darkest die.

As a starter, we had another example of the new found enthusiasm of the Crown for early notice of defence witnesses. Falling foul this time was the Rev. Colin Morton, from Edinburgh, who intended to argue (like Alan Wilkie yesterday) that he had been unfairly arrested at the April 2003 Faslane blockade when others were not. Procurator Fiscal McCrae said he needed the witness information to prepare for the case properly (the thought of the PF being prepared for one of our cases caused much sniggering on the public benches). Colin pointed out: that giving witness information was not a legal obligation, only a matter of courtesy; that the Crown had not requested witness information; that the papers which called him to his trial had not mentioned this as a requirement. JP Viv Dance went the Crown way and adjourned the trial until March next year.

Next up was Sue Brackenbury from Helensburgh, for the second day running. She was also to be tried for breaching the peace at the April 2003 blockade but the JP suddenly decided that she could not hear Sue’s case, since she had dealt with her yesterday. In an attempt to get the matter done with, Sue changed her plea to guilty, but the JP still insisted she could not deal with her and deferred it to January when a different magistrate will preside. Sue then entered a plea of not guilty for another case and this was set for trial in February before JP Dance. Presumably by that time any prejudicial residue will have been successfully eroded. At this jaws dropped all around on the public benches the magistrates in this court are accustomed to seeing the same peace protesters in the dock on a regular basis.

But now for the main course. The JP then left the court without explanation. In time the shuffling and gathering of papers by officials implied that the day’s business was over, leaving Jean Oliver from Biggar completely bewildered. She had been called for trial today and had five witnesses lined up ready to give evidence in her defence. It was only when Jean approached the PF that she was told the case had been dropped. No explanation of this was forthcoming except that the decision had been made several days ago. There was no apology to her and her witnesses.

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