A PENSIONER accused of stopping a nuclear convoy by lying on the middle of the road has been found not guilty of breach of the peace.
Retired classics teacher Brian Quail had appeared at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on charges of bringing to a halt a convoy of four lorries on their way to the Faslane Naval Base after flagging them down at a roundabout in Balloch, West Dunbartonshire.
But he was cleared of the charge after Justice of the Peace Andrew Nicholson decided that his actions last March had not caused fear and alarm.
Mr Quail, 78, is a well-known anti-nuclear campaigner with over a dozen previous convictions for similar offences and has been in jail five times for failing to pay fines.
At the same hearing Janet Fenton, the vice-chair of Scottish CND, was cleared of contempt of court.
Ms Fenton had been called as a defence witness but was found by Mr Nicholson to be in contempt after she repeatedly refusing to stop speaking when he told her to do so.
But the JP told the Edinburgh-based campaigner he would take no further action against her.
During a lengthy closing statement on Thursday, Mr Quail, of Hyndland in Glasgow's west end, claimed Trident was a breach of international law, which he declared of higher importance than Scots law.
But Mr Nicholson said: “I have taken advice from my legal adviser as to what constitutes a breach of the peace. It must cause a reasonable person to be in a state of fear or alarm, not simply irritation.
"My decision is based on 100 per cent on the law of the Scotland and nothing else. I find you not guilty."
After the verdict, Mr Quail said: “I did not commit a breach of the peace, and I'm relieved the JP saw that.
“I was pleased to get a chance to draw the court's attention to the illegality of Trident, which the courts in Scotland have body-swerved.”
Quail had previously told the court: "This is not a political matter. This is a court of law and I am here to uphold the law.
"There's no dispute regarding the facts of this case. The problem we have is the refusal of the courts to take in the context of the actions taken by me.
"If the vehicle involved was in a bank robbery it would not be an offence and considered justifiable."
He added: "I remember Hiroshima as a boy. As we speak in this court room, a young man sits in front of control panel deep in the ocean ready to fire.
"Please don't defend Trident against me. Please defend me and humanity against Trident."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel