Press Releases & Updates 2001

Susan van der Hijden (32), from Amsterdam, and Father Martin Newell (33), from Canning Town in London, are charged on two counts of criminal damage, totalling £31000, after disarmament work on a nuclear weapon convoy truck at Wittering in November last year.

Cross-examined by barrister Terry Munyard (for Martin Newell) the MoD officer in charge of security for the Wittering base on the night in question admitted that he had had three cans of lager at a social event in the complex that evening and could not be sure whether the alarms had been set. The crowded public galleries were visibly astonished when prosecution witnesses claimed that the perimeter fence of the base had been regularly patrolled that night and there were no holes or gaps to be seen. It is well known locally that the fence has numerous holes, some of which have been there for years.

Defending herself, Susan van der Hijden, while cross-examining a prosecution witness, was able to show to the jury a booklet entitled Hibakusha which has graphic illustrations of the terrible injuries caused by the bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Barrister Munyard was also able to have passed round the jury the Trident Ploughshares handbook "Tri-denting It", with its description of the power and indiscriminate nature of Trident. The case for the defence began this afternoon as Martin took the witness stand and gave a detailed account of what had happened last November.

A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: "By what they did Susan and Martin have brought again into the light of day the fact that we have these hideous weapons and are criminally careless about ensuring public safety as we move them about the country."

The trial continues.

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