Press Releases & Updates 2001

Roger Franklin (72), from Horsley, Gloucestershire, Joan Meredith, aged 71 from Alnwick in Northumberland and Ulla Roder (45), from Odense in Denmark, were charged with causing criminal damage. Ulla is one of the "Trident Three" famously acquitted in October 1999 by a Scottish Sheriff Court after damaging a Trident research facility. Last May Roger, Joan and Ulla cut through the perimeter fence at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston, where the components of Trident nuclear warheads are made.

Following a long judgment in which he argued that their defence was invalid in law, the magistrate did not impose any "criminal sanction" (i.e. a fine or imprisonment), in view of their honesty and sincerity. He imposed on each court costs of £150 and a £200 compensation order for the damage done. The task of collecting these payments has been transferred to the activists’ local courts.

Both Roger and Joan have an established record of refusing to pay fines imposed for what they see as their crime prevention work. Last August Joan was asked to sit at the back of her local court for a day for refusing a previous fine.

A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said:

"In spite of three significant not guilty verdicts for Trident Ploughshares activists at Crown Court or equivalent level the lower courts in Britain continue to defend the indefensible Trident status quo. These magistrates should get out more."

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