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In the Uxbridge Magistrates Court Sitting at Willesden Between IN THE UXBRIDGE MAGISTRATES COURT SITTING AT WILLESDEN BETWEEN: THE CROWN PROSECUTION SERVICE and ROBERT ANTHONY BASTO ELLA GILBERT RICHARD STEVEN HAWKINS CAMERON JOSEPH KAYE SHEILA MENON KARA LAURA MOSES DANIELLE LOUISE PAFFARD REBECCA HOLLY SANDERSON SAM SENDER MELANIE STRICKLAND ALISTAIR CRAIG TAMLIT EDWARD THACKER GRAHAM EDWARD JONES THOMPSON REASONS 1. This case concerns an incident on 13th July 2015 when the defendants entered the northern runway at Heathrow Airport and erected a structure on the runway. This had the effect of disrupting the use of the runway and the operations of landing and departing planes for several hours. The defendants were trespassing and it was their intention to disrupt flights. 2. Each of the defendants faces two charges, namely aggravated trespass in that they obstructed/disrupted someone engaged in a lawful activity contrary to section 68(1) and (3) of the Criminal Justice and Public order Act 1994 and entering a security restricted area of an aerodrome without permission contrary to section 21C(1)(a) of the Aviation Security Act 1982 . Agreed facts. 3. The facts are largely agreed. The agreed facts will form part of my findings and I will not repeat them later in this judgment. 4. Heathrow Airport consists of an international airport on private land. It is surrounded by a perimeter fence which separates the airside area of the airport to which the public do not have access and the landside area to which the public are permitted to have access. The airport has its own by-laws. It is a criminal offence to enter the airside part of the airport without authorisation. The perimeter fence has signs which clearly state that beyond it is a restricted zone and that it is a criminal offence to enter without permission. 5. The airport currently has two runways. Generally flights stop at about 11.30pm and the first flights land at about 4.30am and the first flights take off at about 6am. There are occasions when the airport can extend the 11.30pm deadline but during night time one runway is closed and the other remains open in case of emergency. On 13th July 2015 the northern runway was the runway that remained open during the early hours. 6. On average 200,000 passengers per day pass through Heathrow. That amounts to 73.4 million passengers per year. 7. On the 1st July the Airports Commission; Final Report (the Davies Report) was published and it recommended that a third runway be constructed a Heathrow. 8. In anticipation of the outcome of the report the defendants began to put in place plans to enter the airport and occupy the runway prior to the report being published. Once it had been published their plans crystalised. 9. At about 3.45am on the 13th July 2015 the police received calls to the effect that the callers had seen suspicious activity around the perimeter fence. On arrival the police discovered that the perimeter fence had been breached and a large hole had been cut into the fence. 4-6 pairs of bolt cutters had been discarded near to the hole in the fence. 10. At least one of the defendants also called the police once they had entered the runway to let the police know that they were there. They did this in order to ensure their safety and the safety of others. 11. Shortly afterwards the police discovered the thirteen defendants engaged in a protest on the eastern end of the northern runway. The protestors had erected a tripod shaped structure out of scaffolding poles and one of the protestors, Cameron Kaye, was sitting at the top of the structure. Mr Kaye was wearing a white jumpsuit and was dressed as a polar bear. Three of the defendants were inside the tripod structure. The remaining protestors had either secured themselves to the structure or each other. Those that had secured themselves to each other had used poles filled with either glue or expanding foam. The purpose of this was to make it more difficult to remove them from the runway. 12. Some defendants had contacted the media and were talking to news agencies and tweeting posts. They issued a press release. 13. There were banners fixed to the structure which read “ No ifs, No buts”, “No third runway”. “Plane Stupid” and “in it for the long haul”. The first two banners were a reference to the words of David Cameron when talking about the expansion of Heathrow airport in 2009. 14. The activities of the group were reported by the police to operations managers at Heathrow. The incident was given a high degree of priority and was treated as a “gold” incident which is required for the most serious type of incident. 15. Heathrow Airport staff deployed staff to deal with the incident and resources such as snow ploughs were put in place to shield the defendants from planes. The runway re-opened with a shortened stretch for take off with the first flight taking off at 6.13am. Three pilots felt unable to use the runway with a shortened length. Heavier aircraft could not use the northern runway at all. No flights were able to land on the northern runway until the protestors had been cleared. 16. Throughout the day the southern runway remained open and some flights were diverted to that runway. In particular incoming flights. However, Heathrow Airport runs close to capacity nearly all the time and on this day there were 1300 flights due to take off and land. 17. The defendants were informed by the police that they were engaged in an unlawful activity and that flights were due to land in approximately 45 minutes. They were informed that they were being arrested for the criminal damage that had been caused to the perimeter fence. They were then informed that they would be arrested for criminal trespass. During the exchange police informed the protestors that aircraft were due to land in 30-45 minutes and one of the protestors, Graham Thompson, said “ I suggest that they use the other runway”. During the time that officers were dealing with the defendants, the police observed the protestors talking about the proposed third runway and about climate change. They were also chanting “we don’t want no runway”. The protestors were asked to leave voluntarily but they would not. 18. During the protest or action the police made a recording of some of what was happening and I have received this in evidence. During the recording Mr Sender referred to the fact that a number of people living in the vicinity of Heathrow die each year because of the emissions from the airport. 19. Police commenced an operation to remove the protestors from the runway but the runway was not fully operational until 10.05am that day. 20. All defendants were arrested and taken to Heathrow police station where they were interviewed under caution. All gave no comment interviews, although Sheila Menon gave a prepared statement in which she spoke about the need to lower emissions by lowering the number of flights, the targets created by the Climate change Act 2008 which can not be met and the fact that the Airports Commission recommended a new runway. Any new runway would mean that the UK had decided not to tackle climate change. 21. Significant Heathrow Airport Ltd staffing resources were diverted to dealing with the protestors. Approximately 25 flights had to be cancelled altogether, 12 incoming and 13 departing. 22. The protest caused significant disruption to flights both incoming and outgoing. There was damage to the perimeter fence (a hole approximately 8 feet by 3 feet had been cut) and to the runway caused by the scaffolding erected and detritus left by the protestors. All of this had to be cleared before that part of the runway was able to be safely used. The offences. 23. The offence of aggravated trespass is set out under section 68 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. It reads as follows: 68(1) A person commits the offence of aggravated trespass if he trespasses on land and, in relation to any lawful activity which persons are engaging in or are about to engage in on that …land does anything which is intended by him to have the effect – (a) of intimidating those persons… (b) of obstructing that activity, or (c) of disrupting that activity. 24. The offence of unauthorised presence in a security restricted area is set out in section 21C of the Aviation Security Act 1982. It reads as follows: “21C(1) A person shall not – (a) go with or without a vehicle, onto any part of a [security restricted area] of (i) an aerodrome……except with the permission of the manager…or a person acting on behalf of that manager……. (2) Subsection(1)(a) above does not apply unless it is proved that, at the material time, notices stating that the area concerned was a [security restricted area] were posted so as to be readily seen and read by persons entering….. (3) A person who contravenes subsection (1) above without lawful authority or reasonable excuse shall be guilty of an offence ……. The issues. 25. The principle issue in this case is necessity. The defendants all maintain that they felt compelled to do what they did in order to prevent death or serious injury. 26. All gave evidence that they were concerned about the effects of aviation on climate change and most also gave evidence that they were also concerned about the effects of pollution from aircraft on the residents of the areas surrounding Heathrow.
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