Stansted Fifteen

Stansted Fifteen

The Stansted Fifteen are a group of nine women and six men (Helen Brewer, Lyndsay Burtonshaw, Nathan Clack, Laura Clayson, Melanie Evans, Joseph McGahan, Benjamin Smoke, Jyotsna Ram, Nicholas Sigsworth, Alistair Tamlit, Edward Thacker, Emma Hughes, May MacKeith, Ruth Potts and Melanie Strickland) who, on 28 March 2017, cut a hole measuring one square metre in the perimeter fence of Stansted Airport to prevent the departure of a deportation flight that had been chartered by the UK Home Office to forcibly deport sixty migrants to Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

Deportation flight cancelled

To stop the government-chartered Titan Airways Boeing 767 jet taking off, four of the activists used plastic tubes and expanding foam to secure themselves to the plane’s landing gear while the rest did the same beneath a tripod securing the port-side wing. The Stansted 15 wore pink hats and sang songs to keep the cold at bay. A large pink sign they had smuggled in with them bearing the words ‘no one is illegal’ billowed in the chill early spring air. For ten hours they sat there while airport security staff tried to dislodge them. The flight was cancelled.

Charges

Essex Police initially charged the Stansted 15 with aggravated trespassing, an offence carrying a maximum three-month custodial sentence. It was three months after their initial arrest, in June, when they found out the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), authorised by the Attorney General, Jeremy Wright, was upping the charges to ‘endangering an airport’ under Section 1 of the 1990 Aviation and Maritime Security Act, a law passed in response to the Lockerbie bombing in 1988.

Verdict

On 10 December 2018, a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court found the 15 activists guilty of a terrorism-related offence which could have led to life imprisonment. The court adjourned for reports and the defendants were to be sentenced in February 2019. One of the defendants, Melanie Strickland, said the verdict was “devastating”:

"To be found guilty of a terror-related charge for a peaceful protest is devastating for us, and profoundly disturbing for democracy in this country. It’s the Home Office’s brutal, secretive and barely legal practice of mass deportation flights that is putting people in danger, and their ‘hostile environment’ policy that is hurting vulnerable people from our communities. It’s the Home Office that should have been in the dock, not us."

Terrorism convictions quashed

On 29 January 2021, the Court of Appeal overturned the convictions of the Stansted 15. Following the Court's ruling, May MacKeith stated on behalf of the group:

"It is painful for it to be finally acknowledged that the past four years’ of prosecution should never have happened. But for many people caught up in the UK immigration system the ordeal lasts much, much longer. In the middle of a global pandemic the government is still locking people in detention centres and brutally forcing people onto secret night flights, often to places they don’t know.

"The nightmare of this bogus charge, a ten week trial and the threat of prison has dominated our lives for four years. Despite the draconian response we know our actions were justified. 11 people, including survivors of trafficking, who would have been deported that night are still in the UK. Mothers, fathers, colleagues, friends and family members are rebuilding lives the government attempted to destroy.

"To help us move closer to something that truly represents justice we need to challenge the cruel and racist logic that builds prisons and borders. That means stopping all deportation charter flights, closing all detention centres and ending automatic deportation of people who have been convicted of a crime. It means migrants should have the right to welfare support and not to be forced to live in appalling conditions or forced into unnecessary and dangerous reporting. It means dismantling the Home Office and enabling free movement for all."

Ex-terrorist Ben Smoke

Ex-terrorist Ben Smoke celebrates

After the appeal ruling, Stansted 15 ex-terrorist Ben Smoke tweeted:

"BREAKING: WE (the #Stansted15) WON OUR APPEAL!! I'm so happy. I can't stop crying. We fucking did it!!!"

Novara Media reports

Novara Media tweeted:

In a major victory for protest rights, the #Stansted15 have had their convictions overturned in the Court of Appeal.

Here's our minidoc on their sentencing, back in Feb 2019.

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