The low down
The ‘can do’ attitude lawyers and the justice system assumed when Covid-19 struck has seen the overnight arrival of technologies that have been talked about for years. The criminal justice system has experienced a dramatic increase in the use of remote hearings and solicitors attending police station interviews virtually. While it is unlikely that things will go back to how they were in 2019, decades of underspending on criminal justice is leaving defence lawyers fearful that cost and convenience and not the interests of clients will determine which changes are permanent. Not least, the ability for a defence lawyer to read the room – an important factor in criminal proceedings – could be lost.
Extinction Rebellion protester halts trial into Broxbourne demonstration after glueing himself to dock
Six defendants appeared at St Albans Magistrates’ Court today
Police officers at the Broxbourne printworks where XR were protesting in September (Image: Extinction Rebellion)
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A trial over an Extinction Rebellion protest in Hertfordshire that blocked deliveries of some of the UK’s major newspapers had to be paused after an activist glued himself to the dock and filmed inside a courtroom.
Extinction Rebellion activist arrested for gluing himself to dock at printing press blockade trial
The stunt disrupted the start of the trial of six activists who were charged over a protest targeting major printing presses last September
10 May 2021 • 6:19pm
Firefighters attended St Albans Magistrates Court to help free the man from the desk to which he was glued
Credit: Jack Hardy/Telegraph
A trial of Extinction Rebellion activists accused of blockading major printing presses suffered a chaotic start after a defendant was arrested for glueing himself to the dock.
Six protesters had been due to stand trial after the climate group used vehicles and bamboo structures to block the road outside the printing works at Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, in September last year.
BBC News
Published
image captionThe trial at St Albans Magistrates Court was delayed for two hours
A trial of six people over an Extinction Rebellion protest was delayed when a defendant glued himself to a table in court.
Liam Norton, 36, also began filming with his phone at St Albans Magistrates Court.
It took police two hours to remove him before the trial could continue.
All six defendants face a charge of obstruction of the highway, which they deny, over a demonstration at a newspaper printers in Hertfordshire.
District judge Sally Fudge said: [Mr Norton s] behaviour was particularly disruptive and I take the view there is a high likelihood he should become disruptive again were he allowed to attend court for a trial again.
Police officer said protesters asked for Rupert Murdoch to be brought to scene
PC Josh Wilson told court it was his job to get XR protesters to move out of road
Meanwhile, defendant Liam Norton claimed to have glued his hand to the table
Court was cleared while security staff dealt with issue before resuming again
Norton and five others are charged with wilful obstruction of highway in relation to an XR protest and the disruption of the distribution of national newspapers