Press Releases & Updates 2001

In Dumbarton Sheriff Court the case against Morag Balfour for her part in the Big Blockade in February this year was thrown out when a police witness failed to identify her. Morag (28), is from Glenrothes and polled 841 votes in the Central Fife constituency in the general election in June.

Meanwhile. In Helensburgh District Court the case against River met a similar fate when a police witness picked out a fellow campaigner in the public seats. River, an Open University tutor from Manchester, is familiar with acquittals for anti-Trident actions, having been famously acquitted by the jury in Manchester Crown Court this January on charges of conspiring to commit criminal damage. In November 1999 he and Sylvia Boyes attempted to decommission the Trident submarine Vengeance when it was undergoing pre-operational testing in Barrow docks. This is the third occasion in the space of a week when police witnesses have either failed to identify or have misidentified accused in Trident Ploughshares trials.

David Mackenzie said: "It’s difficult to see what is behind this particular identity crisis. Maybe confusion is more likely because there are more and more of us to deal with. Anyway, it’s just one more sign that the courts are not coping with this growing wave of civil resistance. The answer is simple: stop criminalising people who are upholding the law and attempting to prevent crime."

Marcus Armstrong (41), a peace and community worker from Milton Keynes, who on Monday last week spray-painted a Trident submarine in its high security berth at Faslane, appeared in the same court for a blockade of the Coulport armaments depot and for swimming into the Coulport base, both last August. Justice of the Peace Viv Dance found him guilty and fined him £300 on the first charge and £250 on the second. Barbara Maver from Edinburgh was fined £200 for her part in the blockade of Faslane on 1st August 2000.

Printer friendly version

Home | Top