A report prepared by Kent Professor Nick Grief has been relied on by two anti-nuclear protesters acquitted of committing aggravated trespass at HM Naval Base Devonport contrary to s 68(1) of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
The charge related to an incident on 25 July 2014 when defendants Nicola Clark and Theo Simon chained themselves to a car parked on an approach road to Devonport Naval Base. The road led to the site where one of the UK’s four Trident submarines, HMS Vengeance, was undergoing maintenance and refit.
Relying on the report prepared by Professor Grief, which was read out in court unchallenged during their trial in Plymouth earlier this month, the defendants argued that Trident and the associated refit activity are unlawful under international law and English law. Explaining their acquittal, Professor Grief said: ‘Without commenting on the legality of Trident or of the refit activity, District Judge Gray ruled that the defendants had been on the highway, not on ‘land’, and therefore the prosecution had not proved the offence of aggravated trespass.’
Professor Grief teaches Public International Law and EU Law at Kent Law School and is Dean for the University of Kent’s Medway campus. He also practises at the Bar from Doughty Street Chambers where he is an associate tenant.
Professor Grief’s research interests include public international law, especially the legal status of nuclear weapons, air and space law and the domestic implications of international law. He has further interests in human rights, especially the right to protest, conscientious objection to the payment of taxes for military purposes and the use of international law by protesters in UK courts.