Press Releases & Updates 2006

Sylvia Boyes (63), from Keighley in Yorkshire and Olivia Agate (65), from Menston, also in Yorkshire, were charged with malicious mischief after being arrested in September 2005 for cutting the perimeter fence at the base. Both Sergeant Morar and Constable Templeton, questioned both by the Procurator Fiscal and the accused, repeatedly denied all knowledge of the purpose of the base, even when the PF pointed out that its role was widely and publicly known. The PF also asked about the training they received as guardians of the base but there was no evidence from the responses that the training programme dealt with its core business.

The court managed to retain its decorum when the legend of the banner the women had hung on the fence was read out: BOMBING FOR PEACE IS LIKE FUCKING FOR VIRGINITY. Olivia told how she had travelled around in the area on the day in question and had kept seeing a Trident submarine and she had needed to express the anger she felt at the sight. She said: "What kind of vandalism is it that puts this horror in the midst of such a wonderful landscape?"

Sylvia told the court how she challenged nuclear weapons and war by lobbying her MP, by taking part in demonstrations and vigils, by researching and sharing information, but she added: " Any campaign for social change must include direct action." She explained that the same mindset lay behind both the UK’s warmongering and its deployment of nuclear weapons

Justice of the Peace Viv Dance fined them both 150,with 28 days to pay.

Olivia said later: " I found it really disturbing when the police told us they did not know what Coulport was for. It reminded me of those accounts of the Holocaust when railwaymen said they were just dealing with trains, when delivery men said they knew they were gas canisters but did not ask what their purpose was. This is just what a murderous regime needs - people who see themselves as just doing a job and who ask no questions."

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