Protestors get bail conditions changed

ANTI-nuclear activists yesterday persuaded a judge to change their bail conditions so they could attend a planned demonstration at Sizewell power station.

The group were charged after a protest at Sizewell in Suffolk last July - and plan to return there next weekend to mark the 23rd anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.

Four of the group calling themselves the Sizewell Blockaders - Melanie Harrison, 37, Peter Lux, 46, and Nicola Stickelles, 38, all of Denburgh Road, Geldeston, near Beccles, and Rebecca Dale, 34, of High Street, Ilketshall St Margaret, near Bungay - pleaded not guilty in October to obstruction of a person engaged in a lawful activity.

But their bail conditions stated they were not allowed within 100m of the power station boundary.

Yesterday they appeared at Lowestoft magistrates court to ask for a variation in the bail conditions so that they can go to a peaceful demonstration next weekend to mark the 23rd anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.

Activists will also be protesting against last week's announcement that Sizewell has been put forward as a site for two new nuclear reactors.

Helen Law, for Harrison, Stickelles and Dale, said: 'The court must balance the concerns it may have about reoffending against the defendants' rights to have a peaceful protest.'

Miss Law said Harrison worked as police liaison officer for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and had been working with police in Leiston to help organise next weekend's event.

District judge Nina Tempion lifted the condition from 9am on Saturday to 2pm on Sunday.

She said: 'Obviously I have taken on board that you have got authority for this remembrance service and the police will know who you are and what your bail conditions are.'

A fifth protestor, Irene Willis of Shoeburyness, near Southend, has also denied the same charge and is on unconditional bail.

The group's trial is set to take place in Lowestoft at the end of September.