Skip Navigation | Sheffield IMC | UK IMC | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

UK Indymedia UK Indymedia Sheffield Indymedia Sheffield Indymedia

More trouble at Menwith

fwd from CAAB | 17.07.2003 08:47 | Anti-militarism | Sheffield

Another pathetic and pointless arrest at Menwith Hill.

Tuesday 15 July '03 at NSA Menwith Hill

The weekly demonstration organised by CAAB again took place at the Main entrance to Menwith Hill (now going for over three years). There were five people present.

The 'policing' of this demonstration has been between North Yorkshire police (NYP) who have jurisdiction outside the base and the Ministry of Defence Police Agency (MDPA) - inside the base. NYP were withdrawn about three weeks ago and now the MDPA have to once again ask NYP for permission to step outside the base and 'police' the highway at the Main entrance. This was apparently given for the demonstration.

Within half an hour Lindis Percy was arrested for allegedly obstructing the highway (s.25 PACE 1984). She was taken to Harrogate Police Station (HPS) where she was detained and later interviewed by PC Nick Clark and PC Kevin Clarke (MDPA).

At the end of the interview PC Clark said that after making a phone call to Menwith Hill, he was informed that Lindis had been in breach of the bail conditions (imposed in March at Daventry Magistrates' Court re USAF Croughton).

Lindis was arrested by PC Clark in the interview room, later charged with 'obstruction of the highway' and held over night at HPS for allegedly being in breach of the bail conditions. She appeared in court the next day (Wednesday 16 July) where she denied breaching her bail conditions and entered a plea of 'not guilty' to the charge of 'obstruction of the highway'.

There was a delay of the hearing because of a 'conflict of interest' by the CPS solicitor who had previously represented and advised Lindis in several cases. He withdrew because of this. Eventually a replacement solicitor was found and Lindis appeared in court at 1.15 pm.

Reading from a statemen, Peter Ostler (CPS) told the Magistrates that Sergeant Sheardown (MDPA) who had been in the CCTV control room during the demonstration, was aware of Lindis's bail conditions. He had previously measured 5 meters from the 'yellow line' (purportedly marking the boundary and a line that CAAB has challenged in the court) but that he had not marked this distance on the ground.

Peter Ostler said that PC Clark had told Lindis on 'numerous occasions' that she was obstructing the traffic coming out of the base (Lindis denied this at the time and in the court). She was 'moved' by PC Hall (MDPA) during the demonstration and Sergeant Sheardown had observed Lindis sitting on the ground and to the side of the entrance to Menwith Hill. He said that this action meant that she was in breach of her bail conditions.

A video of the incident was played in court. Lindis then gave evidence. She was cross examined by Paul Norton who represented her. She pointed out to the Magistrates, with the help of the video, that at the time of the alleged breach of bail conditions when she was sitting on the ground, she was under arrest and therefore in police custody. PC Clark had arrested her and Lindis was giving a reply to caution when PC Gary Hall suddenly interferred and roughly pushed and shoved Lindis to the side of the entrance to Menwith Hill. Lindis told the Magistrates that she had sat down on the road to stop this rough and unnecessary handling by PC Hall. At no time was Lindis informed that she was in breach of her bail conditions by Sergeant Sheardown or any of the officers present.

There was no other evidence on the CCTV video recording that Lindis was in breach of her bail conditions. The Magistrates found the breach 'not proved'.

A pre-trial review for the alleged offence of 'obstruction of the highway' was fixed for 18 August. The CPS then made an application for the bail conditions to be varied to 'not to go within 50 meters of the boundary of Menwith Hill (increasing the distance of the bail conditions set by Daventry Magistrates).

Lindis made representations to the Magistrates re the difficulties with any distances imposed (an example being the reason why Lindis was in court at the time). She also asked that an exception be made so that she could attend the bi-monthly Quaker Meeting for Worship at Menwith Hill. The CPS objected to this, saying that it was not necessary for her to attend.

The Magistrates imposed bail conditions 'not to go within 15 meters of the boundary to Menwith Hill' and allowed an exception to attend the regular Quaker Meetings for Worship.

Lindis now has four different bail conditions imposed by various courts from incidents at:

1) USAF Fairford (3 March) when 14 B-52s landed - 'aggravated trespass' and 'criminal damage' by hanging a US flag upside down with the words 'GWB and friends - the world's rogues' on to the underside of a B-52(subsequently charge dropped) - bail conditions varied recently to 'not to go within 2 meters of the boundary of RAF Fairford'

2) USAF Croughton (23 March - Lindis was remanded to Holloway for one week) - bail conditions - 'not to go within 5 meters of nine listed US bases'

3) RAF Fylingdales (26 April) 'aggravated trespass (testing invalid military land byelaws) - bail conditions ' not to go within 50 meters of perimeter of RAF Fylingdales - exception to attend Quaker Meeting for Worship

4) NSA Menwith Hill (15 July) - as in above report

Anni Rainbow and Lindis Percy
Joint Co-ordinators
CAMPAIGN FOR THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF AMERICAN BASES (CAAB)
8 Park Row, Otley, West Yorkshire, LS21 1HQ, England, U.K.
Tel/fax no: +44 (0)1943 466405 0R +44 (0)1482 702033
email:  anniandlindis@caab.org.uk or  caab@btclick.com
Website:  http://www.caab.org.uk

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed it's the only thing that ever does."
Margaret Mead

fwd from CAAB

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Sheffield Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Sheffield [navigation.actions2016]

Sheffield [navigation.actions2015]

Sheffield [navigation.actions2014]

NATO 2014

Sheffield Actions 2013

G8 2013

Sheffield Actions 2012

Workfare

Sheffield Actions 2011

2011 Census Resistance
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Occupy Everywhere

Sheffield Actions 2010

Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands

Sheffield Actions 2009

COP15 Climate Summit 2009
G20 London Summit
Guantánamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
University Occupations for Gaza

Sheffield Actions 2008

2008 Days Of Action For Autonomous Spaces
Campaign against Carmel-Agrexco
Climate Camp 2008
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Smash EDO
Stop Sequani Animal Testing
Stop the BNP's Red White and Blue festival

Sheffield Actions 2007

Climate Camp 2007
DSEi 2007
G8 Germany 2007
Mayday 2007
No Border Camp 2007

Sheffield Actions 2006

April 2006 No Borders Days of Action
Art and Activism Caravan 2006
Climate Camp 2006
Faslane
French CPE uprising 2006
G8 Russia 2006
Lebanon War 2006
March 18 Anti War Protest
Mayday 2006
Oaxaca Uprising
Refugee Week 2006
Rossport Solidarity
SOCPA
Transnational Day of Action Against Migration Controls
WSF 2006

Sheffield Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

Sheffield Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

Sheffield Actions 2003

Bush 2003
DSEi 2003
Evian G8
May Day 2003
No War F15
Saloniki Prisoner Support
Thessaloniki EU
WSIS 2003

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech