;)
Guy Shrubsole: convictYesterday, the green activists who disrupted the Banks Mining facility next to Matt Ridley's home in Northumberland were up in court on charges of aggravated trespass. I have received the following report.
1. Yesterdays court case went ahead as planned at Bedlington Magistrates Court.
2. The nine charged protesters all appeared in court. They brought along a barrister from Manchester.
3. They appeared rather 'sheepish' in court.
4. The barrister argued mitigating circumstances on the basis of that it was a legitimate protest and that the protesters were frustrated by the lack of UK Government action to combat climate change. The judge (a district judge) apparently didn’t think much of this and suggested that it was not appropriate for matters of national politics to be argued by way of illegal obstruction of legitimate coal mining operations in Northumberland.
5. Eight pleaded guilty and received:
They were bound by a court order not to go within 50m of a Banks site.
- a criminal conviction for aggravated trespass
- a fine of approx. £1,000 each made up of £150 court costs, £850 towards Banks losses and some other smaller bits.
- a 12-month conditional discharge
6. One pleaded not guilty. Thought to be the “legal observer” that was with the three protesters down in the mine. He is apparently going to try to argue that he did not disrupt mining activities in any way. He is still on police bail and due to appear in court again for a trial in March 2016.
The names are:
- Roger Geffen, 49, of Southwark Bridge Road, London.
- Ellen Gibson, 21, of Elm Grove, London;
- Philip MacDonald, 28, of Blackstock Road, Finsbury Park, London;
- Beth Louise Parkin, 29, of Dodgson House, Bidborough Street, London;
- Pekka Piirainen, 23, of Elm Grove, London;
- Thomas Youngman, 22, of Hermitage Road, London.
- Laurence Watson, 27, of Blackstock Road, Finsbury Park, London;
- Guy Shrubsole, 30, of Bavent Road, London; and Lewis McNeill, 34, of no fixed address.
Guy Shrubsole is a full time employee of Friends of the Earth.
Laurence Watson and Philip MacDonald are full-time employees of Bryony Worthington's Sandbag organisation.
Roger Geffen, as noted previously, is an MBE and a full-time employee of a cycling campaign group.