On Wednesday 21 August 2002 Lindis Percy was arrested and charged under the 'RAF Menwith Hill' byelaws.  She was camping on the base and had been there for over two hours undiscovered when she was arrested after declining to move.

 

Lindis has persistently pursued the issue of invalid military land byelaws at Menwith Hill (and USAF Lakenheath, Mildenhall and Molesworth) since 1987.  She has challenged invalid byelaws three times in the courts and was successful with John Bugg in 1993 when the byelaws at Menwith Hill were declared 'defective on their face'. (Woolf and Pill Queens Bench Division 1993).

 

There have been many arrests under the byelaws over the years.  Lindis alone has been arrested many times under military land byelaws at NSA Menwith Hill, USAF Lakenheath, USAF Mildenhall and JAC Molesworth.  The charge brings an opportunity for another challenge (see below) to the validity of the byelaws at Menwith Hill.

 

After the byelaws at Menwith Hill were declared invalid in 1993 the Secretary of State for Defence brought in new byelaws (RAF Menwith Hill) in 1996.  The base was without byelaws for three years which enable many people to walk on the base without fear of arrest.   

 

Anne Lee and Helen John (Menwith Hill Womens' Campaign) challenged the new byelaws in 1996.  The byelaws were declared invalid by Judge Crabtree in York Crown Court in 1997 but that decision was overturned in the High Court in 1999 and the byelaws have remained valid and in force since. 

 

CAAB has been consistenly denied an opportunity to challenge the validity of the byelaws at Menwith Hill by the Ministry of Defence Police Agency and the Crown Prosecution Service.  The MDPA and the CPS have been engaged in a process of institutionalised manipulation of the law over many years. For some time now the MDPA have been arresting peaceful 'trespassers' for Aggravated Trespass (Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1984) rather than using the byelaws so preventing another legal challenge to their validity.

 

It will be interesting to see if the Crown Prosecution Service allow this case to come to court as it has been their practice in the past to discontinue the case as not being 'in the public interest'.

 

Military land byelaws are the first circle of legal protection at NSA Menwith Hill.  Menwith Hill is the European Ground Relay Station for the Space Based Infra Red System which is a crucial part of the American Missile Defense System.  Fylindales is the other base that the US government hope Tony Blair will give formal consent for use in this system.