Press Releases & Updates 2001

Marcus Armstrong (40), a peace and community worker from Milton Keynes, was up for two charges of breach of the peace. During the Trident Ploughshares camp last August he took part in two separate blockades of the main gate of Coulport on the same day. In the morning he attracted police attention for leafleting in too energetic a manner. A police witness claimed he "kept on jumping about in front of the traffic". At the afternoon blockade he crouched down in the roadway with other activists.

As Justice of the Peace Viv Dance was about to give her verdict the lights flickered dramatically, causing her to question aloud whether this was significant. The accused advised her that it was a sign. It is not known how she interpreted this portent but she certainly found him guilty, fining him £100 on the first charge and £150 on the second. Difficult as it is to find any rationale for the wild variations in sentences dished out in Helensburgh, court watchers felt that the reason on this occasion was the subtle distinction made between "jumping around" and "crouching", the latter being deemed to be more likely to cause alarm to the "lieges", those invisible but delicate and ever-present creatures mentioned in the breach of the peace charge.

A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: "This court is constantly finding new ways of being absolutely loopy. Here’s the picture: a court spends a farcical morning weighing up the difference between jumping around and crouching while, behind the gate where all this jumping and/or crouching went on, the machinery of genocide grinds on and is of no interest to the local justice system."

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