Press Releases & Updates 2002

Sylvia Boyes, 57, from Keighley in Yorkshire and Olivia Agate, 64, from Skipton were apprehended by MOD police on 28th March this year as they reached the perimeter fence of the Fylingdales Ballistic Missile Early Warning Station in Yorkshire and are charged with intent to cause criminal damage.

On the fourth day of the trial Justice Taylor, as he began his summing up, indicated in a printed handout that the jury should consider whether the defendants had a reasonable belief that if they did not disable the radar station there would be an imminent danger greater than if they achieved their aim. They also should consider whether the women had intended or could have intended to damage the station and whether a "sober" person of "reasonable firmness" and of the same sex and age would have responded to the situation by trying to disable Trident in the same way. If the answer to all three questions was yes, then they should acquit. He also ruled that they could not consider the question of any criminality in Trident or Fylingdales as a potential lawful excuse.

Earlier, in concluding her testimony, Sylvia outlined the dangers of the current situation the failure of the nuclear weapon states to take any significant steps towards disarmament, the presence of nuclear weapons in areas of high tension such as Israel and India/Pakistan and the threatening remarks by the British Defence Minister at a Select Committee earlier this year.

Prosecutor Helen Gamble, in a brief summing up, told the jury there was a right to free speech but people’s beliefs did not give them the right to commit criminal acts. For Olivia Solicitor Advocate Nick Carter said that it was up to the Crown to prove that she had no lawful excuse for her intended action. Olivia had been open and honest with them and the jury could not be sure that she had no lawful excuse. In summing up her own case Sylvia said: "I wish Trident was on trial, but it is we who are. I could not live with myself and be silent."

It is expected that the jury will retire to consider their verdict at 11.15 tomorrow (Friday).

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