The Crown Prosecution Service refused to comment on the acquittal of the first people arrested at the Balcombe anti-fracking protest last summer. Yesterday, a group of 11 environmental campaigners were found not guilty after a three-day trial of obstructing the highway outside Cuadrilla’s oil exploration site, (See below […]
There were cheers and shouts of thank you from the packed public gallery of Brighton Magistrates Court this afternoon (9/1/14) as the first group of anti-fracking campaigners arrested at the Balcombe protest last summer were found not guilty of all charges. Eleven protestors* had been charged with obstructing […]
An environmental campaigner arrested on the second day of the Balcombe protests accused the police of unreasonably and disproportionately aggressive and intimidatory action. Richard Millar, 30, from Brighton, told the city’s magistrates court this morning the police used pressure point tactics on him when he was arrested. Pictures […]
The police gave no warning when they made their first arrest at the Balcombe anti-fracking protest, the trial of eleven campaigners heard this afternoon (8/1/14). Countryside management student Samantha Duncan told Brighton Magistrates Court she was taking part in the protest on its second day, July 26th last […]
The trial of the first environmental campaigners arrested outside Cuadrilla’s drilling site at Balcombe heard this morning (8/1/14) how a peaceful protest became chaotic as police began arresting people. Eleven campaigners deny obstructing the highway on July 26th last year by sitting on a log in the entrance […]
The trial got underway this morning (7/1/14) of the first group of campaigners arrested at anti-fracking protests in Balcombe last year. Three women and eight men are charged with obstructing the highway outside Cuadrilla’s oil exploration site on July 26th. They all deny the charge. The case is […]
The first trial arising from protests outside Cuadrilla’s oil exploration site at Balcombe collapsed within an hour when the judge questioned whether an offence had been committed. District Judge Peter Crabtree invited the prosecution to drop the case at Brighton Magistrates Court this morning (25/11/13) after hearing evidence […]
The trial of a teenager charged following a protest outside Cuadrilla’s exploration site at Balcombe was unable to go ahead this morning (November 6th 2013) because the wrong sort of magistrates were in court. Only one of the three magistrates on the bench at Brighton was permitted to […]
From Balcombe Parish Council Website
Six anti-fracking protestors who locked themselves to a fire engine outside Cuadrilla’s oil exploration site at Balcombe became the first people to be convicted following this summer’s protests. But a district judge at Crawley Magistrates Court today accepted they were acting according to their beliefs and conditionally discharged […]