Press Releases & Updates 2003

Roz Bullen and Mark Leech, both from Edinburgh, faced trial after a protest last June at the fuel depot at the north end of the naval base. A gap had been cut in the perimeter fence and Roz was charged with a breach of the peace for linking her arms round a fence post through a plastic tube. She denied the charge on the grounds that she had obstructed no-one and because her actions did not and were not likely to cause alarm and disturbance. She had been impelled to take action at the base shortly after Geoff Hoon’s first threat to use Trident against Iraq and when the danger of nuclear war between India and Pakistan was very real. She was found guilty by Justice Fraser Gillies and fined £150.

The charges against Mark were that he had gone into a restricted area (the fuel depot) without authority and by an unauthorised entrance (the hole in the fence). Supporters in the court were reduced to giggles as the Procurator Fiscal solemnly asked one of the police witnesses whether this fresh cut gaping hole was an authorised way into the depot. Mark explained that when Roz wrapped herself round the post he had waited to give her support but had been told by police that he too was detained. At this point he nipped through the hole and ran into the depot. He was given a fine of £100 on each of the two counts.

Earlier David Mackenzie from Tillicoultry was fined £180 for his part in a "die-in" at the base last August, when the theme was "Don’t Fire Trident at Iraq". He said: "It was a solemn, peaceful and beautiful occasion. Only by the most bizarre take on reality could what we did be called a breach of the peace." He also told the JP that activists were worried about the bias he showed against them.

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