CAAB

The saga of unsafe and invalid Military Land Byelaws around US bases in the UK

.....and a word about Jonathan Crabtree (Crown Court Judge)

It is with deep regret that we learnt of the death of Jonathan Crabtree (an English Judge in the Crown Court legal system).

The Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases (CAAB) has always thought that it is important to (and has been careful to) acknowledge the work of many people over centuries, who have bravely struggled to change the law - specifically in the movement to gain the civil liberties which have been handed on to us because of these struggles. Future generations have built on this work. It is important to accurately document some of the history of this work.

It was the meticulous and tireless work of someone called John Bugg who first acknowledged that there was a problem with a law on English Statute - namely Military Land Byelaws (MLBs) - a law which was brought in to legally 'protect' military bases and which made trespass a criminal offence.

This law was used to great advantage in the mid-80s in the UK (during the protest against US Cruise Missiles) by the Secretary of State for Defence to deter any protest on bases - specifically on bases occupied and controlled by the US Visiting Forces. NSA/USAF Menwith Hill was one of the bases. This base was 'ringed' with MLBs in 1986 in an attempt to stop protest on the base.

John's work continued and in the meantime the MLBs at Greenham Common were over turned in 1987 by three women who had built on his early work.

John Bugg died in 1993. He had worked away for many years on his own, often unsupported and at great personal cost to expose the fact that many MLBs were invalid. Simply put, the law maker (the Secretary of State for Defence) had abused his powers in the making of this law. John's important work exposed this.

Many people over many years were arrested, detained, charged and convicted under unsafe law.

Having met John in 1987, Lindis Percy (Joint Co-ordinator with Anni Rainbow of CAAB) worked with him to expose the abuse of power and manipulation of the invalid MLBs involving various military bases in the UK - (UK and US bases) by the Ministry of Defence Police Agency (MDPA). Hundreds of arrests followed.

This work culminated in 1993 when John and Lindis took a case to the High Court, London to challenge the validity of the HM Forest Moor and Menwith Hill byelaws (the first set of byelaws). The byelaws were declared 'defective on their face' and therefore no longer safe to bring a prosecution. (DPP v Percy and another (Woolf and Pill) QBD 1993). The MLBs at USAF Alconbury also fell (John Bugg and Rachel Greaves).

There followed a legal muddle after the High Court ruling when Lindis and Rachel (John was to have been one of the Claimants) brought a counter action for unlawful arrest and detention under the invalid Menwith Hill byelaws.

The Claim was against 66 MDPA officers, several Home Office Police, the Attorney General, various Chief Constables and others. The outcome was that the byelaws were declared valid (A.S. Hall and others v Lindis Percy and another - QBD 1995), despite many people being awarded costs for unlawful arrest and detention because of the 1993 High Court ruling. Legal aid was not granted despite an appeal by Lindis, so preventing her from taking the case to the House of Lords.

Three years later new byelaws at 'RAF' Menwith Hill were brought in and were challenged by Anne Lee and Helen John (Menwith Hill Womens Campaign). Jonathan Crabtree (Judge) ruled that the second set of byelaws were invalid. However, later his ruling was overturned by the High Court. The byelaws were apparently valid again.

Jonathan Crabtree was no stranger to the workings of Menwith Hill. He was the Judge who had presided over a civil action brought by the Secretary of State for Defence against Lindis in 1991.

The case eventually was heard by Jonathan Crabtree in York Country Court in 1992. Lindis's defence prompted him to send this case back to the High Court - commenting and acknowledging the important of this case, Jonathan Crabtree said:

If Ms Percy is right in her defence, it will mean that all the Arrangements and Agreements made between the UK and US government will have to be renegotiated'.

The case had to be conceded in 1993 when the then Secretary of State for Defence successfully applied for a 'gagging Order' (Public Interest Immunity Certificate). Jonathan Crabtree had raised an important issue concerning the legality of NSA/Menwith Hill. It was no wonder that the Government was worried.

Since the second set of byelaws many people have again been arrested and charged. To get the case into the court Lindis again deliberately broke the law and was arrested the day after the byelaws came in force. She was the first person to be convicted under the second set of byelaws. A chance to challenge the byelaws by Lindis was however lost.

The policy of the MDPA and the Crown Prosecution Service has been to drop all charges so as to prevent a challenge to the validity of the second set of byelaws.

However work has continued and is continuing to bring a case to secure and expose the invalidity of the second set of byelaws (among other issues). This work continues the long struggle of John Bugg and one which Lindis Percy has been persistently engaged with for over 17 years.

We have John Bugg and Jonathan Crabtree to thank for their revelations and exposures of unsafe law and the wider issues of the occupation and control of the US Visiting Forces in the UK - their work contributed to important changes in the law - and made a historical difference.

Anni Rainbow and Lindis Percy

Joint Co-ordinators

CAMPAIGN FOR THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF AMERICAN BASES (CAAB)

8 Park Row, Otley, West Yorkshire, LS21 1HQ, England, U.K.
Tel/fax no: +44 (0)1943 466405 0R +44 (0)1482 702033

email: anniandlindis@caab.org.uk or caab@btclick.com

Website: http://www.caabuk.plus.com

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed it's the only thing that ever does." Margaret Mead