12:40 > Tuesday 9th February 2010
Animal rights cases dropped
06 June 2007
CASES against 16 animal rights protesters were dropped after a judge condemned police for unlawfully stopping their protest.
The court last week heard a tape of police calling the protesters foul names and saying how much they wanted to prosecute them.
The 16, including Amanda James, 22, of Wheatley Crescent, Huntingdon, had been on trial for two weeks in a hearing that was expected to last a month.
They were accused of offences during a protest on June 21 last year against the building of an animal testing laboratory at Oxford University.
They were all cleared of refusing police orders to break up the demonstration outside the Sheldonian Theatre on the day of the historic Senior Day Ceremony, when the city was packed with dignitaries and tourists.
During the protest, the demonstrators refused to move and sat down.
The defendants, who had worn identical T-shirts during the demonstration, bearing a picture of a primate called Felix behind bars, represented an organisation called Speak.
Their ages ranged from 22 to 70 and included a mother and son, Pauline and Mel Broughton, aged 70 and 46, from Northampton.
However, sitting at Bicester Magistrates' Court, district judge Deborah Wright cleared all the defendants of offences under Section 14 of the Public Order Act.
She said: "I find the (Section 14) conditions were imposed unlawfully.
"Whoever was responsible for making the decision that this prosecution should proceed, in light of the tape, may well have made a serious error of judgement."
However, Pauline Broughton was found guilty of obstructing a police officer and another defendant, Fran Cornwell, from Porlock Lane, Milton Keynes, was guilty of assaulting a police officer. They were both given absolute discharges.
The police comments had been caught on a tape recorder which had accidentally switched on inside an officer's pocket.
Outside the court, Speak spokesman Mel Broughton said: "Anyone in the country who believes you have a right to protest and a right to free speech should be very, very concerned."
The Deputy Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, Alex Marshall, said: "I have listened to what the judge had to say and I take her comments very seriously. I will now review this case to see whether there are any disciplinary matters that need to be dealt with."
The defendants were: Amanda James, 22, of Wheatley Crescent, Huntingdon; Pauline Broughton, of Welford Road, Northampton; Mel Broughton, of Semilong Road, Northampton; Fran Cornwell, of Porlock Lane, Milton Keynes, Bucks; Anna Cooke, 31, of Honeysuckle Road, High Wycombe, Bucks; Sheila English, 64, of Jacks Lane, Turvey, Bedfordshire; Anthony Morrison, 43, of Lyndhurst Avenue, Newcastle; Rachel Nelson, of North Town Lane, North Wootton, Somerset; Deborah Scicluna, 46, of Osman Close, London; Emma Speed, 39, of Victoria Drive, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex; Eileen Kinghorn, 53, of Wellington Way, Bow, East London; Michael Haines, 59, of North Home Road, Cirencester, Gloucestershire; Trevor Holmes, 50, of Holystene Crescent, Newcastle; Joanna Robertson, 29, and Melanie Bates, 35, both of Shaftesbury Road, Reading, Berks.
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