Star date: 18th June 2014

GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE ACTED WITHOUT LAWFUL AUTHORITY FOR MONTHS IN SALFORD SAYS SOLICITOR

Barton Moss solicitor, Simon Pook, of Robert Lizar's, has slammed Greater Manchester Police after a further 29 cases related to alleged offences at the Barton Moss anti-fracking protests were discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service on Monday.

Calling for an Independent Inquiry into Barton Moss policing, Pook says "We cannot permit, in an established democracy, police forces arresting and detaining citizens with the knowledge their actions are themselves unlawful"

Full details here…

On Monday, another 29 alleged offences related to the Barton Moss anti-fracking protests were `discontinued' by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), with the total of charges dropped, discontinued or defendants found not guilty, spiralling upwards past the sixty mark, with only a few convictions 

However, those who were arrested, charged and faced spells in police cells and prisons, are furious that their cases will not now go to court for them to be found formally `not guilty'.

In a statement today, Simon Pook of Robert Lizar Solicitors which has represented the vast majority of Barton Moss defendants, slammed both the Greater Manchester Police and the Crown Prosecution Service…

"On Monday, 29 cases were discontinued by the CPS" he says "Whilst this development is welcomed, it denies my clients the right to have a formal not guilty verdict given to them. We cannot have a system where the police arrest people, detain them, present them before a court, then simply discontinue the proceedings. The CPS has a duty to constantly review cases. How can it be that for five or six months these cases had been considered viable for trial?"

Calling for an Independent Inquiry into Barton Moss policing, Pook explains:

"Since November 2013, Richard Brigden and I advised the Court on the nature of Barton Moss Road. Greater Manchester Police continued to act without lawful authority for a number of months.

"We cannot permit, in a established democracy, police forces arresting and detaining citizens with the knowledge that their actions are themselves unlawful" he adds "Such a position only undermines confidence in the police and justice system. There must be an independent inquiry into the policing at Barton Moss."

* Last week, the CPS dropped charges against eight Barton Moss anti-fracking protectors, including mother of four, Vanda Gillett, who was brutally arrested by the Greater Manchester Police Tactical Aid Unit last February (see here and, for Vanda arrest see here and see here)

Part 2 - Contamination at Barton Moss...Possible Dynamite Report - click here