Nottinghamshire Police Statement : Power station protesters urged to appeal

Power station protesters urged to appeal

Posted on 18th April 2011 15:30

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has today invited lawyers representing 20 people convicted of protests at Ratcliffe on Soar power station, to appeal those convictions.

Keir Starmer QC, acting on advice from an independent barrister who has reviewed the case, believes there may be grounds to appeal.

He said: “Having carefully considered her conclusions, I believe that the safety of the convictions should be considered by the Court of Appeal as soon as possible. I have invited the defence to lodge an appeal and to include the issue of non-disclosure of material relating to the activities of an undercover police officer in any grounds of appeal.”

Nottinghamshire Police has not seen the barrister’s review so is unable to comment on its conclusions or recommendations.

Following the withdrawal by the CPS in January of the prosecution against six other protesters, and at the explicit request of the force, four independent inquiries were commissioned to explore all the issues arising from the case and the wider issue of the police use of Undercover Officers.

Two of these independent inquiries – one by the IPCC and the other by the East Midlands Regional Review Unit – were set up specifically to examine the timeliness and nature of information disclosed to the CPS by Nottinghamshire Police and in particular the evidence supplied by an undercover officer.

The inquiry conducted by the East Midlands Regional Review Unit has been completed and its findings have been offered to all the relevant partner agencies.

Nottinghamshire Police understands that the CPS is now conducting an internal investigation about the disclosure activities of its own staff.

The force eagerly awaits the outcome of the independent reviews which we hope will enable us to publicly reflect the professionalism and thoroughness of the police investigation.