Local residents protest in Defend Our Juries demonstration outside Manchester Crown Court

Local protestors sat outside Manchester Crown Court on Minshull Street, as part of the growing public campaign Defend Our Juries on Monday (25 September).

The protestors – who included local residents Reverend Mark Coleman, 64, and Pat Sanchez, 83, a teacher from Littleborough, – say their signs “communicate the centuries-old right of all jurors in British courtrooms to acquit a defendant according to their conscience and irrespective of the directions of the judge.”

Defend Our Juries says the demonstration comes “amid mounting public concern that political trials are being turned into show trials,” citing the trial over the toppling of the statue of the slave-trader Edward Colston in Bristol.

Although there has been a succession of jury acquittals, they say the trials “have embarrassed the government and certain corporate interests.”

Those who held up similar signs earlier this year are now being investigated for “attempting to pervert the course of justice” and “contempt of court” and face substantial prison sentences if convicted.

 

 

Measures being taken by courts in response include defendants being banned from explaining to the jury why they did what they did, even though people who have taken peaceful political action are now being sent to prison for up to three years.

In some cases, people have been sent to prison just for trying to explain their actions to the jury (for example, by using the words ‘climate change’ and ‘fuel poverty’ in court).

Defendants are being banned from explaining the principle of ‘jury nullification’ to the jury, even though it is a well-established principle of law, which is set in marble at the original entrance to the Old Bailey.

Former vicar of Rochdale, Reverend Mark Coleman, was jailed earlier this year for causing a public nuisance in London. He was one of many Insulate Britain protestors who were gagged during their trial and prevented from mentioning fuel poverty, the climate crisis or civil resistance when defending their actions in front of the jury.

He said: “At my trial at the inner London Crown Court in January 2023 I swore to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth on the Bible. Yet I was not permitted to tell the whole truth to the jury. 

“I could not talk about how I had been involved in environmental projects in the town, climate change or my faith and motivation.

“The ability of juries to make decisions according to their consciences, and be appropriately informed in order to do so, is a vital cornerstone of our justice system. If we are to be judged by our peers, not by government fiat, this needs to be protected.”

Explaining her willingness to risk arrest for this matter of legal principle, Pat added: “I used to live in Spain, at the time a dictatorship under Franco. Protests weren’t allowed and you couldn’t be sure of a fair trial.

“So, I felt safer back in England. But now it feels we are getting more like Franco’s Spain, with our right to protest restricted and our juries’ ancient right to hear the whole truth gone.

“This is not the England I love.”