Trial of British climate protesters collapses

[January 10, 2011]  LONDON (AP) -- British prosecutors on Monday dropped charges against six environmental protesters after a defense lawyer said that an undercover police officer had switched sides and offered to help the accused.

Activists and politicians called for an investigation into the clandestine operation, saying the police infiltrator had played a key role in organizing and fomenting the protest that led to the arrests.

The defendants were picked up in a controversial sweep of more than 100 activists in 2009 and charged with plotting to shut down one of Britain's biggest power stations.

Their trial was due to start Monday, but public prosecutors said new information had come to light that "significantly undermined the prosecution's case."

The Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement that there was "no longer sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction." The charges were formally dropped at a court hearing in Nottingham, central England.

Defense lawyer Mike Schwarz says the trial collapsed after attorneys pressed for information about the role of Police Constable Mark Kennedy, an undercover policeman who spent several years inside the protest group. Schwarz said Kennedy had contacted him before the trial "with a view to assisting the defense."

"It is no coincidence that, just 48 hours after we told (prosecutors) our clients could not receive a fair trial unless they disclosed material about Kennedy, they halted the prosecution," he said.

Some 114 people were arrested in a nighttime raid at a school near the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power plant, 120 miles (190 kilometers) northwest of London, in April 2009. They allegedly had planned to occupy the coal-fired power station in a protest against carbon dioxide emissions linked to climate change.

Campaigners condemned the pre-emptive arrest, saying the activists had planned a peaceful protest.

Twenty people have already been tried and given community-service sentences or conditional discharges.

The Metropolitan Police refused to comment on Kennedy's role. Activists told The Guardian newspaper that the long-haired, tattooed Kennedy -- whom they knew as Mark Stone -- had been involved in many demonstrations. They said he participated in reconnaissance of the Ratcliffe plant and advised on the best way to break in.

Schwarz said the case raised "serious questions" about the police operation.

"One expects there to be undercover police on serious operations to investigate serious crime," he said. "This was quite the opposite. This is civil disobedience which has a long history in this country and should be protected."

An opposition lawmaker said the government needed to answer allegations that Kennedy had "acted almost as an agent provocateur."

David Winnick said Home Secretary Theresa May should make a statement to the House of Commons.

[Associated Press; By JILL LAWLESS]

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