Skip Navigation | HOME | UK Indymedia | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

manchester Indymedia

fairford peace protester finally gets sentenced

laura | 13.05.2004 00:10 | Anti-militarism

fairford peace protester finally gets sentenced....

So, over 14 months after the "offence" i was finally sentenced for the henious crime of daring to protest at RAF Fairford last year against the illegal and immoral war in iraq.
After being convicted of aggravated trespass at Cirencester magstrates court in feburary this year i finally got to be sentenced in Cheltenham today.
This was my 13th trip to Gloucestershire on this matter - 3 times on police bail to Stroud, six visits to Cirencester magistrates, and four to Cheltenham.
At last they powers that be decided to sentence me.
The afternoon was not without incident - after the clerk read out the details of the offence to the magistrates two of them informed the court that they were perhaps slightly biased, one worked for "a government agency that works with the MoD" - hmm, in cheltenham, i wonder where that might be..... - and another's son had just been posted to Iraq.
So, upon my request, that bench was swapped for the one sitting in the next court. i didnt dare ask if they had any other interests for fear of it being adjourned foir the umpteenth time...
The original smarmy, badly dressed prosecutor, Mr Moorhouse, was unfortunately not there for the final part of my dealings with the Gloucstershire courts, and so was unable to be bemused by my choice of McKenzie friend, the person who was previously my co-defendant (let off on a technicality) sitting with me in the dock again.
This prosecutor, Derek, dressed in a very fetching velvet suit, went on at length about irrelevant detail that had nothing to do with my conviction (something about damamge to some landing lights apparently to the value of over 3 grand...)
Very well done to whoever did it, but nothing to do with me i'm afraid.
He then wittered on about how i was on bail for two other offences at the time -naughty me!
Anyway, i addressed the magistrates for a while, trying to persuade thenm that a conditional discharge would be an appropriate punishment... i explained the circumstances surrounding my previous convictions and they actualy seemed quite impressed by the fact that one of them was for trashing some GM crops, who'd've thought a prevoius conviction could work to your advantage, eh?
So, they retired for a coffe, sorry, i mean to deliberate.
half an hour later they came back, caffinated, to tell me that since i already had two conditional discharges they'd give me a community punishment order this time. so 40 hours community service it is, well unless i win my appeal of course.... :)
(for some unknown reason) spoke to corporate media outside after and, suprise suprise, they misquoted me, oh well....
Good luck to the remaining fairford peace protesters who are up in Bristol, at least you have a chance, you have juries ;)

laura

Download this article in pdf format >>

Email this article to someone >>

Submit an addition or make a quick comment on this article >>

Comments

Hide the following 8 comments

With the benefit of hindsight...

13.05.2004 08:12

Hey Laura,
having seen Iraq get bombed to smithereens and then occupied by a gang of murderers and rapists - any regrets about doing your bit to try and stop it? (Rhetorical question).
Well done you.

Squatticus


Well done

13.05.2004 13:36

I think you've already been doing your community service.

Do you think you can manage 40 hours worth of trying to stop a crazy establishment waging an illegal war?

Hermes


community service tip

13.05.2004 16:22

If you haven't done community service before - here a tip: Find an organisation that you wouldn't mind doing voluntary work for a few weeks, and get them to agree to take you on. Then persuade the probation service to go with it (they should be more than happy). I did 120 hours that way - it flew by.

bob


Qucik Question

13.05.2004 20:34



Do you get paid at all for community service? i really hope so. it sounds like such a good way to make a living for a while. do something well-meaning & then get paid to do something else well-meaning as a punishment...

woggle


solidarity

13.05.2004 23:31

Well done Laura, and good luck with your appeal.

You may have been found guilty by the courts, but you can be rightly proud of protesting. If it is a crime to try and stop an illegal colonial war, then the world has truely gone mad.

it is Bush and Blair who are the guilty men, and I hope that one day justice will be meted out to them.

For more on Fairford:
 http://freespace.virgin.net/swindon.stopwar/fairford.htm

Older stories and analysis:
 http://freespace.virgin.net/swindon.stopwar/fairford_allnews.htm

Andy
mail e-mail: Swindon@stopwar.org.uk
- Homepage: http://freespace.virgin.net/swindon.stopwar/index.htm


Community service

14.05.2004 13:35

How about doing some in Norwich? (at map ref *&^%$ of course)

the Bolton distiller


thanks

14.05.2004 22:30

Thanks for the replies of support and solidarity and community service tips ;)
i guess the community punishment / forced labour will keep me out of trouble for a few weeks ;)

laura


Great Job

27.06.2006 12:17

You people are retarded. you dont feel like you wasted days of your life protesting something that you know cant be stopped? or maybe you are that stupid and thought youd actually make a difference. either way, youre retarded. and about that part where you say you didnt break those runway lights? you expect people to believe you when you have 2 other offenses pending, and at least one of them being for vandalism? once again, retarded. i hope hippies have a special place in hell with nothing but slayer music and red meat. die....

Hippie Killer
mail e-mail: dirkadirka@hotmail.com


Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Manchester Topics

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

Manchester Actions 2010

Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands

Manchester Actions 2009

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

Manchester 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

Manchester Actions 2007

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

Manchester 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

Manchester Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

Manchester Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

Manchester Actions 2003

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

Languages

english

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