Helensburgh District Court.
Monday 11 September 2000
JP John MacPhail PF Chris Donnelly

Trial of Zoe Weir (Fungus) and David Heller for Fence Cutting action on
18 Aug 1999

Only three witnesses. First two were civil servants who had watched Fungus, David and Kreb at the fence on the camera monitor. The third was a Quad bike driver who arrested David after seeing him cutting the fence. David asked about the effects on the base of someone cutting the fence. The witnesses couldn't say. He then showed them a document which outlines the action that base personnel should take when the intruder alarm sounds making clear that work is disrupted. The PF looked quite disconcerted at this new evidence (especially as it had clearly come from inside the base)!

At the end of the prosecution case the PF said he wasn't seeking a conviction against Fungus (no evidence) and he was amending the charge against David to 'attempting' to damage the fence. In spite of protests from David the JP agreed to this. After lunch David put in a submission of 'no case to answer' which was rejected. He gave no evidence himself and in spite of a good analysis of how poor the evidence against him was JP MacPhail found him guilty and fined him £50 for the ATTEMPTED damage and £50 for breach of bail.

Trial of Sylvia Boyes for Fence Cutting (Aug 99) Swimming into Faslane (Aug 99) Locking-on to a bus at Coulport (Nov 99)

Although it was already 4pm and there was a long list of prosecution witnesses the court decided to start this trial. The first police witness saw Sylvia hang a banner on the fence and then cut it with bolt cutters near to the painted rocks at Faslane. The next witness saw two people in the water on the camera monitor and two boat police appeared to say they arrested her. The PFs second witness for the first charge hadn't yet arrived and he decided to give no evidence on the 3rd charge so was only seeking a conviction for the second charge of breaking the military byelaws by swimming into the protected area.

Sylvia then refused to give evidence from the witness box saying that as a Quaker it didn't matter where she stood to tell the truth. She then made an amazingly powerful speech about her reasons for taking action. She talked about the horror of the Dunblane massacre and the Omagh bomb and held up a book about Hiroshima and asked the court to not to ignore the crime against humanity that is Trident. She read out the UN Charter and how our Government breaks laws while demanding that others keep them.

The magistrate said he had listened patiently but he wasn't there to judge the legality of Trident. He found her guilty and fined her £100 and in anticipation of what she would say gave her 28 days to pay. Sylvia said she already owed them £150 which she hadn't paid and was refusing to leave the court until until all these fines were dealt with.

Roger Franklin was then called (for a trial for theft of a police radio) and adjourned to Oct 9th with a promise that it would be dealt with one way or another then. Sylvia was still sitting in the dock alongside Roger!

JP MacPhail then gathered up his papers, the clerk said 'Court rise' and they all ran out the door ignoring the fact that neither Sylvia or the four supporters present had stood up.

PS Todays proceedings were in the newly refurbished court room in the Municipal Buildings. In spite of having no disabled access and no hearing loop the court did have the addition of running water…..through the ceiling. There were occasional disturbances while the court usher and members of the public rearranged the four buckets collecting the drips!! The acoustics are better than Victoria Halls. There is no waiting room and the door slams loudly every time someone goes out.