Press Releases & Updates 1999

Not reported is the fact that at one stage the jury asked the judge if they were able to take international law into account in reaching their verdict. The judge said no.

Tony Benn testified that the British Government, with its repeated flouting of international law, was a threat to democracy. Excellent expert witness was also given by MP Alan Simpson who told the court that it was nigh well impossible to get information out of the MOD, even when large spending on projects was involved. The judge deferred sentence until 16th June.

Jury backs granny’s anti-nuclear graffiti

Helen Carter

Guardian - Saturday December 18, 1999

An anti-nuclear campaigner who daubed graffiti on the House of Commons was found guilty yesterday of criminal damage. But the jury handed the judge a note condoning the actions of Helen John, a 62-year-old grandmother and former Greenham Common protester.

Judge Henry Blacksell QC, read the note out at Middlesex crown court. "We are unanimously agreed that the defendant had reasonable cause for her actions", it said. He told the jurors: "You can take it I can understand that ... and will be true to it". The judge deferred sentence for six months and gave Ms John a conditional discharge provided she remained of good behaviour in that time.

Ms John had daubed 18-inch high messages at St Stephen’s Gate, the public entrance to the Palace of Westminster, early one morning in September. "No star wars", "Ban trident" and "Ban depleted uranium weapons" read the slogans.

Tony Benn, Labour MP for Chesterfield and veteran anti-nuclear campaigner, had given evidence to support Ms John during the three-day trial. Mr Benn told the jury he had been misled or kept in the dark on a number of nuclear issues while a government minister. He agreed that action such as hers was sometimes necessary to alert parliament and the public about what was really going on. "I think dissent and protest of a non-violent kind are an integral part of democracy", Mr Benn said.

The judge told Ms John, who has 23 previous convictions for similar or related offences: "You made it quite clear during your evidence, the deeply held convictions which you have and your determination to continue. "Nothing I say, whether it is sad, good or bad ... is going to alter that. But I have a duty to the public to ensure that no further damage is committed."

Ms John, 62, of Otley, West Yorkshire, denied breaking the law and insisted the public owned the Palace of Westminster. Had the public known what she was doing, it would have consented. Riel Karmy-Jones, prosecuting, told the court that despite a £4,500 clean-up of the graffiti, ghost outlines of the slogans remained and the damage was probably irreparable.

Ms John has been an anti-nuclear campaigner for many years. She set up the Menwith camp five years ago at Menwith Hill, the biggest US spy base in the world, and renamed the base WoMenwith Hill.

A spokesman for the lord chancellor’s department said it was highly unusual for a jury to convict a defendant, then subsequently condone their actions, but he was unable to say whether the case had set a legal precedent.

ENDS

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