Stansted 15 trial: Activists who stopped migrant deportation flight walk free from court

Defendants condemn 'brutal' Home Office charter flights after supporters protest outside court

A group of activists who stopped a deportation flight leaving Stansted airport have walked free from court and are to appeal their convictions.

As supporters protested outside Chelmsford Crown Court, a judge handed three defendants, who had previous convictions for aggravated trespass at airports, suspended prison terms and gave 12 defendants community sentences.

The defendants, who have become known as the Stansted 15, said they were “guilty of nothing more than intervening to prevent harm” to migrants on board the plane.

Speaking at the end of their nine-week trial in December, Judge Christopher Morgan said alleged human rights abuses, immigration policy and proportionality did not have “any relevance” to whether a criminal offence had been committed.

Sentencing the Stansted 15 on Wednesday, he told them: “In normal circumstances only a custodial sentence would have been justified in this case, but I accept that your intentions were to demonstrate.”

He stressed they were still convicted of a “serious offence”, and while their intentions reduced their culpability the “harm in this case is great”.

“You took objects on to that airport,” said Judge Morgan, noting that that debris on a runway can have “catastrophic effects” like the 2000 Concorde disaster.

He said the activists moved a metal tripod near to the wing of the plane, where its fuel tank was located.

The group were convicted of disrupting services at an aerodrome, contrary to the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990.

In a statement, they called the prosecution “an injustice that has profound implications for our lives”.

“People seeking asylum in this country face worse than this: they are placed in destitution and their lives in limbo, by the Home Office’s brutal system every single day,” the Stansted 15 added.

“We demand that these convictions are quashed, and that the government dismantles the vicious, barely legal, immigration system that destroys so many people’s lives.”

Their sentencing came amid a fresh debate over the British government’s deportation practices, after a new charter flight left for Jamaica.

Raj Chada, a partner from Hodge Jones and Allen who represented the defendants, said: “While we are relieved that none of our clients face a custodial sentence, today is still a sad day for justice.

“Our clients prevented individuals being illegally removed from the UK and should never have been charged ... we will continue to fight in the appeal courts to get these wrongful convictions overturned.”

United Nations human rights experts raised concern over the case and warned the British government against using security-related laws against protesters and critics.

“We are concerned about the application of disproportional charges for what appears to be the exercise of the rights to peaceful and non-violent protest and freedom of expression,” a statement said.

“It appears that such charges were brought to deter others from taking similar peaceful direct action to defend human rights.”

The group sent the government a letter on 1 February, saying the “statutory intent” of the law used must be taken into account to avoid abuse.

The law used is not part of the Terrorism Acts, but campaigners said it was created in the wake of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

A CPS spokesperson said the offence was not a terrorist charge and “applies to those who intentionally disrupt service at an aerodrome, regardless of their motivation”.

In March 2017, the defendants cut through the perimeter fence of Stansted Airport in Essex and used pipes to lock themselves together around a plane.

The Boeing 767 had been chartered by the Home Office to remove 60 people to Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone, and was stationary on the airport’s apron.

The trial heard the defendants believed the deportees were at risk of death, persecution and torture if they were removed from Britain, and many were asylum seekers.

A defence barrister said 11 of the people on the flight remain in the UK, including two who have now been recognised as victims of human trafficking and granted leave to remain.

But prosecutors said 25 people due to be removed were convicted criminals who had served prison sentences, including a murderer, and that activists had placed airport workers “at serious risk of injury or even death”.

Airport security and police spent hours removing the defendants before they were arrested, and thousands of air passengers had their journeys delayed as flights were diverted to other airports.

Prosecutor Tony Badenoch QC said the runway closure, diversions and delays resulted in losses of more than £1m.

Supporters of the Stansted 15 outside Chelmsford Crown Court in Essex, during sentencing (PA)

The group has received high-profile support from MPs and public figures, including the Bishop of Chelmsford. An open letter signed by dozens of politicians and academics in September condemned the practice of “secret deportation flights”, which has come into renewed focus following the Windrush scandal.

Amnesty International said the case was part of a Europe-wide trend of volunteers and activists being criminalised for helping migrants.

“Across the continent, activities such as saving lives at sea, providing food and shelter, and shedding light on abuses are becoming increasingly risky activities,” said spokesperson Maria Serrano.

“The case of the Stansted 15 is part of an attempt to make Europe a place where NGOs are targeted and people showing compassion are stigmatised.”

Edward Thacker, 29, of Ferne Park Road in London, Melanie Strickland, 35, of Borwick Avenue in London and Alistair Tamlit, 30, of Brownswood Road in London were sentenced to nine months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and unpaid work.

The court heard they were previously convicted of aggravated trespass at Heathrow Airport during a 2015 climate change protest.

May McKeith, 33, of Vicarage Road in London, was given a rehabilitation order because of ill health. The remaining defendants were handed 12-month community orders including 100 hours of unpaid work.

They are Helen Brewer, 29, of Ferne Park Road, London; Lyndsay Burtonshaw, 28, of Upper Lewes Road, Brighton; Nathan Clack, 30, of Ferne Park Road, London; Laura Clayson, 28, of Brownswood Road, London; Melanie Evans, 35, of Vicarage Road, London; Joseph McGahan, 35, of Path Hill Farm, Reading; Benjamin Smoke, 27, of Rowley Gardens, London; Jyotsna Ram, 33, of Brownswood Road, London; Nicholas Sigsworth, 29, of Ferne Park Road, London; Emma Hughes, 38, of Vicarage Road, London; and Ruth Potts, 44, of Ashton Gate Terrace, Bristol.

Additional reporting by PA