The Stansted Fifteen. Photo: Lyndsay Burtonshaw.
‘Stansted Fifteen’ receives suspended sentences
As part of a news round-up, Rebecca Hardy looks at the sentencing of the 'Stansted Fifteen'
The year started with the high-profile news that the ‘Stansted Fifteen’ group of protesters, which included Friend Lyndsay Burtonshaw, were appealing their terror-offence-related conviction received at the end of 2018. The members of the End Deportations group were found guilty of blocking the take-off of a deportation flight in March 2017 at Stansted Airport, a charge which carried a potential life sentence.
Branding it an ‘abuse of power’, the lawyers acting for the group launched 100-pages of submissions in January and argued that the judge, Christopher Morgan, had been wrong to overrule the defence of necessity. To the delight of Friends who had rallied to support the group, gathering outside Cheltenham crown court, the activists later received suspended sentences or community orders in February.
Chelmsford Meeting upheld the group and allowed them to use their Meeting house as a central base.
