Eight Greenpeace volunteers appeared in court today to strongly reject the accusation that they 'terrorised' Pauline Prescott when installing solar panels on the roof of the Deputy PM's Hull house in April this year.
The defendants deny that they 'used threatening or abusive behaviour' and testified that they were undertaking a calm, peaceful protest to highlight how Prescott's department's failure to improve the energy efficiency of UK homes is fuelling catastrophic climate change.
Defendants testified that they had no intention of causing alarm or distress to Mrs Prescott, who they were not aware was in the house until several hours into the protest. The house is one of three that the Prescott's own.
Laura Yates, one of the volunteers who helped to install the solar panels, testified this morning, "I thought it was very unlikely that anyone would be in. I thought John Prescott was on the election trail and that his wife would be with him."
The court heard yesterday that the volunteers were challenged by armed policemen who were protecting the property, at the start of the protest. However the police quickly realised that this was a peaceful and orderly Greenpeace protest and posed no threat, so they holstered their guns and allowed the protest to go ahead.
Eight volunteers then went ahead and installed four solar panels on the roof of the Prescott's house. They also left low energy lightbulbs and loft insulation outside the Prescott's front door. The panels and associated equipment, worth over £4000, were left as a gift to Mr Prescott.
Ms Yates also testified that during Greenpeace's 30 year history of taking peaceful direct action the group has never deviated from its non-violent principles. She said, "Greenpeace's core value is non-violence. We never use violence and nor would we associate with anyone who espouses violence. We often wear special costumes to identify ourselves and always communicate with police, security guards or anyone present to explain we're peaceful."
Ms Yates also confirmed that the volunteers had planned for a fellow volunteer at the beginning of the protest to inform any occupants of the house by letter or intercom that this was a peaceful Greenpeace protest.
Yesterday in a highly emotive presentation Mrs Prescott testified that she felt 'terrorised' by the protest, even once she knew it was Greenpeace volunteers on her roof. She also stated that she did not call the police at any time, and that they had not told her this was a Greenpeace protest, so she was fearful for her life, believing terrorists may be on her roof.
However in court yesterday the evidence of other witnesses contradicted Mrs Prescott. PC York, one of the two armed police officers at the house, stated that Mrs Prescott had called him on his mobile phone within 10 minutes of the volunteers arriving at the house, and he clearly told her it was a Greenpeace protest.
PC Cameron-Johnson, the other armed officer, testified that the protest was 'as peaceful as it can be.' And police inspector Jones confirmed under cross-examination that she saw no violence or disorder.
There was also contradiction about whether Mrs Prescott either saw or heard the protesters - a key point in whether the public order charges levelled against them should stand. In initial police statements Mrs Prescott said that Della Georgeson (her husband's secretary who was staying at the house) had seen protesters climbing past her window, but not that she (Mrs Prescott) had seen anyone. In court however she stated that she too had seen someone climbing up past the window of Della Georgeson's room. However when Della Georgeson gave evidence, she said she'd only peeked through the curtains, not opened them, to see protesters at the foot of the ladder and that following this Mrs Prescott popped her head around the door and hurried Miss Gerogeson out of the room, while curtains remained closed.
A Greenpeace spokesperson said: "With climate change already killing 150,000 people every year, the government must act to tackle the energy inefficiency of UK housing which currently accounts for over a quarter of UK CO2 emissions."
John Prescott admits climate change is 'the single biggest issue facing the planet' but his department has totally failed to address the problem. Today even homes built to new UK building standards use around 65% more energy than a new home built in Sweden. The protest aimed to highlight these failures and show Mr Prescott how easy it is to drastically reduce the global warming caused by our homes.
The case is expected to end tomorrow.
For more information contact Greenpeace on 0207 865 8255
