Press Releases & Updates 2000

Roger Franklin (72), of Horsley, Gloucestershire, was convicted on the 3rd of March along with three others from the Midlands affinity group of Trident Ploughshares, of causing criminal damage to the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston. He was ordered to pay £250 towards court costs and £291 compensation for the damage. Tomorrow he will attend Gloucestershire Magistrates Court in Stroud for the payments to be enforced.

In a letter to the Court Roger has made it plain that he has no intention of paying up. He says: "For about 20 years, I have refused willing payment of money, for taxes or fines, to the British state because I will not be complicit in what I consider to be its immoral and criminal activities; its continuing preparation of weapons of mass destruction designed to murder whole populations of distant cities."

Rather than allow a warrant to be served for his arrest for non-payment, Roger has volunteered to come to court to explain. In a statement to the court Roger says: "I am prepared to go to prison again... However, such treatment will not deter me from continuing to campaign against nuclear weapons in the future, as long as I am physically able to do so."

Roger faces jail just as his fellow pledgers in Trident Ploughshares are preparing to step up the pressure on Aldermaston through the week-long disarmament camp from May 18th to 25th and the blockade of the base on Monday 22nd May from 6 a.m.

A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said:

"Roger’s courage, determination and dignity are an inspiration to us as we prepare to challenge the criminality and the horror of Aldermaston."

[Update: Yesterday (5th May) Roger appeared at Gloucester Magistrates Court in Stroud for his outstanding compensation order and court costs to be enforced (arising from the Midlands Affinity group action against Aldermaston last year). The court decided not to jail him but will send round the bailiffs.]

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