Power station protest pair in bid to generate legal history

Published on Saturday 2 February 2008 10:03

TWO environmental campaigners from the Lothians are bidding to claim a legal first by proving their protest at a power station was "necessary".

Emma Robinson and Garry Glass are two of ten people facing charges of aggravated trespassing after breaking into the power station and staging a day-long demonstration. They caused major disruption to the E-ON power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, when they stormed the coal plant last year.

While Ms Robinson, 28, and Mr Glass, 23, admitted the allegation of aggravated trespass, they lodged a special defence of necessity – arguing they believed their actions were necessary in order to save human lives from the consequences of climate change.

If found guilty, as first-time offenders it is unlikely the pair would be handed any stiffer penalty than a fine. But victory could pave the way for other environmental protesters to use the special defence to escape punishment by the courts.

District judge Morris Cooper at Nottingham Magistrates Court has adjourned the case to consider his verdict, which he will deliver on February 25. If he accepts the special defence, it will be the first time such an argument has been successfully used in a UK court in relation to a climate change protest, paving the way for others to produce similar arguments.

Ms Robinson, an ecology student at Edinburgh University who lives in Pathhead, said she and her associates had been surprised how seriously the issue had been taken in court. She said: "It shows how far we've come that we can stand up in a court one by one and list our reasons for taking such action. The judge seems really sympathetic.

"It will make such a difference if we win because in future other groups will be able to make reference to our case, just in the same way we have made references to other cases in ours. We argued that we felt we had to do this with the knowledge we have about climate change. We have science now to back us up, and we were able to stand up in court and rely on that, it's not just our opinions anymore, so people have to take it seriously at all levels."

The group entered the power station on April 10. They spent most of the day in various parts of the plant in a bid to stop production. Mr Glass, a writer from Dalkeith, chained his neck to a piece of machinery above a conveyor belt.

"It was quite a risky thing to do," he said. "But the way I think about it is that it's worth risking my life to stop something that, if we don't stop it, could contribute to wiping out the world in 150 years anyway. We have five years maximum to do something about climate change otherwise it will be too late."