Vengeance departure affected by protest

The Trident Ploughshares trial continued today in Manchester with Vera Baird and Gareth Pierce acting for Rosie James and Rachel Wenham, accused of criminal damage to surveillance equipment on board HMS Vengeance.

Prosecution witness Gordon Walker, Commissioning Project Leader for GEC Marconi Marine, responsible for the equipment, admitted in court on 13 September that following the women's nonviolent action the British government allowed HMS Vengeance to leave Barrow for sea trials in April 1999 without its radar surveillance capability fully tested. He stated that this was due to unspecified problems with replacement test equipment.

The proceedings also revealed how - in the six months since the original trial was suspended for lack of prosecution evidence regarding the value of the damage - the prosecution yet again, continued to present unsubstantiated and fragmentary evidence as to the value of the damage. This raises serious questions about abuse of process. Should the damage be valued at less than £5000 - as quoted in court from a report by independent defence witness and surveillance expert Duncan Campbell - then the case could have been tried before magistrates, rather than before judge and jury at Crown Court.

The defendants do not deny causing the damage and have entered a "Not guilty" plea on the basis of the defence of "lawful excuse". The defence case will show that the defendants actions - which were intended to dismantle or disarm one of Britain's nuclear submarines - were reasonable and lawful in the face of the unlawful and immoral threat of nuclear genocide.