Davidson & Ors v R
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 06 May 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Criminal |
| Court | Crown Court |
Approved judgment Davidson & Ors v Regina
Appeal No: A20210046
A20210048
A20210066
A20210067
A20210068
IN THE CROWN COURT AT ST ALBANS
Bricket Road
St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 3JU
Date: 4 May 2022
Before :
HIS HONOUR JUDGE SIMON
CAROLINE FOX JP
RICHARD HERBERT JP
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Between :
SALLY DAVIDSON
LIAM NORTON
LAURA FRANDSEN
CHARLOTTE KIRIN
CASPAR HUGHES
Appellants
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REGINA
Respondent
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Mr R Chada (of Hodge Jones & Allen) for the 1st, 4th & 5th Appellants
Ms L O’Brien (of Hodge Jones & Allen) for the 2nd & 3rd Appellants
Mrs S McIntyre (instructed by the Crown Prosecution Service) for the Respondent
Hearing dates: 14, 15, 16, 18 March 2022 and 25 March 2022 (bench deliberation)
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JUDGMENT
Approved judgment Davidson & Ors v Regina
HIS HONOUR JUDGE SIMON:
Background
1. At approximately 10pm on the night of Friday 4 September 2020 a group of
protesters, numbering about 50, arrived at Great Eastern Road, Waltham
Cross, Hertfordshire and took up various positions at a point directly opposite
the entrance to the Newsprinters site, referred to as the Broxbourne site. Two
vans were parked at an angle directly in front of the sole entry gates to the
premises. Protesters were present on top of and underneath the vans, with
pairs being secured to each other by lock-on devices intended to delay any
removal. Two relatively flimsy bamboo structures were quickly erected behind
the vans and protesters suspended themselves precariously, at a height. At
the base of these structures and further back from the vans, a number of
protesters had locked themselves into a specially constructed lock-on device
intended to secure a number of people at different levels and angles.
2. Simultaneously with the protest in Broxbourne, a partner protest, as it was
being termed during the appeal hearing before us, was taking place at a sister
establishment of Newsprinters in Knowsley, Liverpool. There was brief
mention of a third action at Newsprinters’ Glasgow-based printworks, although
this featured only to a limited extent at the hearing. It was referred to in the
chronology document. All three actions were undertaken by groups of
protesters acting under the umbrella banner of Extinction Rebellion (XR),
although it became clear that beyond the central message of the group,
relating to climate change, individual protesters had additional causes that
motivated their actions.
3. This is a multi-appellant appeal arising out of convictions at two hearings
before a District Judge at which each of the Appellants was convicted of the
offence of wilful obstruction of the highway, contrary to section 137(1)
Highways Act 1980. Due to the number of people arrested as a result of the
incident, and the Covid restrictions previously in place, they were being tried
in tranches of six at the Magistrates Court.
Approved judgment Davidson & Ors v Regina
4. All twelve of those who appeared for trial and were convicted at hearings in
May and June 2021 appealed to the Crown Court against their convictions.
However, by the time the appeal was listed for hearing, seven had abandoned
their appeals and we proceeded only in respect of the five remaining
appellants.
5. Although the hearing before us proceeded as a hearing de novo there was
concurrently an application by the appellants to stay the proceedings as an
abuse of process. It was the parties’ position, from which the Court did not
demur, that the abuse argument should not be dealt with as a preliminary
issue, but heard alongside the substantive appeals, because it required some
of the same witnesses to give evidence. Although the appellants left open the
possibility at the outset of the hearing of an abuse argument on both the first
and second limbs of Maxwell, this crystallised into reliance only on the second
limb.
6. For the purposes of the appeal the Court received:
A bundle of photographs taken during the incident;
A map of the area showing the proximity of the premises to the A10
dual-carriageway and its junction with the M25 motorway;
Copies of contemporaneous documents compiled by Gold Command
and Silver Command;
A set of agreed facts;
An agreed chronology of events taken from various sources including
statements of witnesses not called, emails and other disclosed
documents;
Submissions in writing from Appellants and Respondent.
Witnesses
7. The first witness we heard from was Assistant Chief Constable Owen
Weatherall, who became Gold Command on the evening, that is the senior
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