CROP PROTESTERS ARE CONVICTED OF TRESPASS http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk BY ERLEND BARCLAY Press & Journal, 09:00 - 07 March 2003 A landmark ruling in a Highland court saw five GM protesters convicted yesterday of aggravated trespass for the first time in Scottish legal history. The verdict at Dingwall Sheriff Court was condemned by the protesters' solicitor as undermining rights of access in Scotland. Nancy McAdam, 58, of Poyntzfield, near Dingwall; Rona McAlpine, 39, of Knockmuir View, Avoch; Pam Bochell, 45, of Society Street, Nairn; Gavin McEwan, 33, of Millbank Road, Munlochy; and Peter Turnbull, 55, of Cantray, Croy, were arrested at a GM trial site at Munlochy on August 23 last year. They were accused of trespassing on the site and disrupting the planting operation by sitting in front of the tractor. Defence lawyers in the trial claimed there was no case to answer, arguing their clients were not trespassing and that the GM planting was carried out unlawfully. They said the offence of aggravated trespass, which forms part of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, could not be applied in Scotland as the legal system did not recognise trespass. But at Dingwall Sheriff Court yesterday, Sheriff Alasdair Macfadyen delivered a nine-page document upholding the charge. "The accused were on another's land," he said. "They were behaving disruptively and obstructively. They had no permission to behave in that way from anyone." On the legality of the GM seed planting he concluded: "In all the circumstances I am satisfied that the activity at Tullich Farm on August 23, 2001, which the accused each intended to disrupt and obstruct, was lawful. "In my view, therefore, all of the essential elements in the charge have been proved beyond reasonable doubt. Accordingly each accused is guilty as libelled." The five were each fined £100. But outside the court they vowed to appeal against the decision. Defence lawyer David Hingston, who represented Gavin McEwan, said the ruling undermined rights of access in Scotland. "The sheriff has decided that it is sufficient for a landowner to come in after the event and say that somebody was trespassing. Now this has never been the position in Scotland where we have traditionally had the right to roam across land. "Now anybody crossing land is at risk because of this decision. That is not acceptable. We have to appeal it. "Furthermore in this case the farmer had actually given permission, he had allowed the people on to his land. "But the sheriff has held that because they then went on to do something else that somehow converted it to being a trespass. "The farmer had made no effort to stop them going on, he knew they were there. He didn't even ask his staff to stop them or to ask them to be removed. "There were no fences, nothing to stop them going on. That is now trespass in Scotland. "We have passed back into the Dark Ages. It is outrageous and there is inevitably going to be an appeal." He also accused Scottish Rural Affairs Minister Ross Finnie of refusing to give evidence in the trial "because he was too frightened to tell us the truth about the conditions which are applying in Scotland". Mr Hingston said evidence in the case showed that rules governing GM trials in Scotland were markedly different to guidelines in England. "That is outrageous. It means we are doing something entirely different for the 18 cases we have here as opposed to England where there are 230. I haven't a clue what the basis for this is but it is rubbish. "This is a case where we are going to appeal. It is an outrageous decision." Protester Peter Turnbull said: "Justice has not been done and has not been seen to be done and I think the ramifications of the decision are going to be felt throughout Scotland in terms of the trespass part of the ruling which now establishes a new law of conditional trespass in Scotland. "This is going backwards in my view in terms of land reform. It is diametrically opposed to the attempt by the Scottish Executive's to make the laws more liberal in Scotland. "It means a farmer can say come into my field but not on a Thursday. And if you go into his field on a Thursday you could be done for aggravated trespass. "I think what's also been established today is that a farmer can deliberately flout the industry's own guidelines which are there not as the sheriff said to help bolster public confidence in GMOs, they're there to ensure total segregation of GM from conventional crops. "What today's verdict establishes is that you can put GM seed in the highway and that's perfectly lawful. "Now that's complete nonsense and a disaster for the environment because nobody knows the long-term risks associated with GMOs."