Press Releases & Updates 2004

That assurance was given by an RAF Leuchars spokesman last night as a wheelchair-bound peace campaigner, who caused damage at the base during a protest last year, told how "amazingly and scarily easy" it had been for her to break into the Fife base and remain undiscovered for around two hours.

Bullen ... told The Courier it had been "quite simple" for her and another war protester to cut through wire fencing and remain undetected as they spray-painted slogans on a hangar door.

Yesterday, however, Bullen failed in her bid to make Scottish legal history as Cupar Sheriff George Evans said that while her case was "emotive", this was not a defence in Scots law and found her guilty of causing damage at the RAF Leuchars base. He admonished her on the charges and ordered her to pay a £400 compensation order to Leuchars.

Bullen, who has previously been convicted of breaking into the naval base at Faslane, denied that on March 10 last year at RAF Leuchars, she maliciously damaged a wire mesh perimeter fence, cutting it in five places. She further denied that within RAF Leuchars she maliciously damaged three buildings and three vehicles by spray- painting slogans on them.

The case was first called around 15 months ago but, while a co-accused who pled guilty had his case concluded in May last year, Bullen’s case had been continued for various reasons.

Yesterday morning, after eleventh-hour discussions, Bullen’s legal counsel withdrew after making it clear to her that they did not think she had a chance of winning.

Bullen stood her ground, however, and in the afternoon, Sheriff Evans agreed, without opposition from the Crown, to let her state her "special defence."

Reading from a prepared statement, she said her actions had to be put in the context of the time and had been a "last resort".

She stressed that her actions had not been carried out lightly, but she believed them to be reasonable, proportionate and morally right on March 10 last year when it was thought the Iraq war would start the next day. In fact hostilities began around 10 days later.

She said she and a co-accused, ’professional peace worker’ Petter Joelson, of Glasgow, were aware that Leuchars Tornados were to be a major player in the Iraq war.

She was also aware, she said, that Leuchars Tornados had been involved in patrolling the Iraqi southern no-fly zone, and she argued that destruction of Iraqi infrastructure during that period, and the imposition of trade sanctions, would make the impact of war even greater on ordinary Iraqi people.

She argued that the forthcoming war led by the USA and UK was illegal due to the absence of a second UN resolution.

She had exhausted all other routes by participating in anti-war protests and writing to MPs, but this had been a "last resort". Her actions had been "wilful, but not malicious", she argued.

Sheriff George Evans told the accused that whether she was right or wrong, she clearly had a genuine belief that what she was doing at the time was correct. However sincerely she held these views, however, she was not legally entitled to cause deliberate damage to property and her argument that she had committed the offence "out of necessity" did not stand under Scots law.

Referring to cases elsewhere, the sheriff said it would not be supported by the high court. He was "completely and utterly bound" by this and therefore found her guilty.

He added, "Obviously, what you have said was very emotive and there was mitigation but there is no legal alternative to finding you guilty."

Presenting a set of previous convictions, fiscal Edward Russell said damage to the Leuchars fence had been £1200, although there was no valuation of cost to vehicles.

Sheriff Evans ruled that the admonishment and £400 compensation should be the same as her accomplice, Petter Joelson, who appeared last year.

Last night, a spokesman for RAF Leuchars said as with all security incidents there had been an investigation and lessons about base security had been learned.

By Michael Alexander. ©All copyright D C Thomson & Co Ltd., 2004

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