 |
|
|
Press Releases & Updates 2003
25th March 2003
Devonport Seven Not Guilty
|
Today Plymouth Magistrates acquitted seven women accused of obstructing the highway at the Albert Gate entrance to the Devonport naval dockyard in Plymouth last November, as part of a protest against the UK’s weapons of mass destruction.
The women, Shirley Law and Helen McFie from Plymouth, Ann Kobayashi from Wickford in Essex, Debbie Mace, Maureen Ukairo and Myra Garrett, all from London, and Lynn Bliss from Luton, took part in a blockade of the naval base during the Trident Ploughshares disarmament camp last year. Devonport has become a focus for the Trident Ploughshares campaign as nuclear weapon submarine HMS Vanguard is being refitted there.
Although the bench rejected the women’s defence that the illegality of the Trident nuclear weapon system provided them with a lawful excuse for their action they found them not guilty on the grounds that the Crown had not established that it was the public highway they had obstructed. While they would have been happier if the court had faced up to the illegality of Trident the women felt that in other respects they had had a sympathetic, patient and fair hearing.
In the meantime the Trident Ploughshares campaign is planning further actions at Devonport.
| |
| Search the Website |
|
|
 |
|
Trident Ploughshares,
0845 45 88 366
Email addresses:
Printer friendly version
Home