Press Releases & Updates 2001

The case against Roz Bullen, Mark Leech, Barbara Maver and Morag Balfour, for a blockade of Coulport Armaments depot in November 1999, was deserted by the Crown after the police witnesses failed to appear. The Justice of the Peace, Viv Dance, then accepted Grace Nicol’s plea of "No case to answer". The second police witness could not identify her in the courtroom and was honest enough to say so. Grace had been involved in a lock-on at the August 1st 2000 blockade of Faslane.

Georgina Smith, from Ardnamurchan in Argyll, was charged with breach of the peace for sitting in the roadway at the north gate of Faslane at the Big Blockade on 12th February. JP Dance found her guilty and fined her £150. Georgina was adamant that she would not pay but the JP gave her 28 days to do so.

Meanwhile the Dumbarton Procurator Fiscal has begun to contact the others arrested and charged at the Big Blockade. Among the 27 summoned to court are MSP Tommy Sheridan and MEP Caroline Lucas. Tommy has a pleading diet on 11th June and Caroline on the 20th June. So far 41 others have been offered a fixed penalty fine of £50 and the vast majority of those will not pay. They probably will be brought to court, adding to an already congested court diary.

Tomorrow Brian Quail of Glasgow will appear in Glasgow District Court for a means hearing after refusing to pay fines for anti-Trident actions. It is more than likely that Brian will be given his second prison sentence this year. He intends to fast during his spell in jail, which will probably be for seven days.

A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: "The Procurator Fiscal has now decided to prosecute people after their first arrest at Faslane. If this is aimed at stopping them getting further involved in the campaign it seems to be having the opposite effect."

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