Three activists who lay on a road outside an immigration detention centre to prevent people being put on a Home Office deportation flight to Jamaica have been cleared by a jury of charges of causing a public nuisance.
The acquittal at Lewes crown court was hailed by the defendants at a time when the right to non-violent protest is under unprecedented threat.
Rivka Micklethwaite, a trainee midwife, and Callum Lynch and Griff Ferris, both law graduates, had been charged with public nuisance after blocking the road in front of Brook House immigration removal centre near Gatwick airport. All three welcomed the jury’s verdict.
The activists, referred to by lawyers as the “Brook House three”, gave evidence at the trial that they had been motivated by their grave concerns about the possible fate of the detainees if they had been forced to board the Home Office deportation flight to Jamaica. Reports of at least five men being killed in Jamaica after removal from the UK were cited in court.
They told the court they had hoped that by lying on the road locked to metal tubing they could prevent the detainees being forcibly removed from the UK and that their protest could give some of the detainees who had been unable to access adequate legal representation more time to do this.
The non-violent protest took place on 9 November 2021. All but four of the people due to board the deportation flight to Jamaica were later removed from the flight list.
Micklethwaite told the court during the trial: “People are traumatised. They are in dire circumstances. Deportations are wrong and deeply unfair.”
In a joint statement after the acquittal the three defendants said: “We took action to prevent people from being ripped away from their families, communities and loved ones, and from the places and communities they live in. At the same time that we blocked Brook House detention centre, people inside were also resisting deportation. This prosecution was an aggressive attempt by the state to criminalise our act of solidarity.”
Zachary Whyte, a solicitor at Sperrin Law, who represented Ferris and Lynch, said: “After being tried the ‘Brook House three’ have been acquitted by a jury. We are honoured to have represented two of these inspiring defendants whose deeds were a prime example of the direct action that forms such a strong tradition in this country.
“The defendants’ resolve in facing many months of prosecution was matched by their clear, measured, and impassioned evidence at trial, which addressed the injustices of the immigration detention and removal system. There is no question that this was the right decision, both on the law and morally.”
Hussain Hassan, of Commons solicitors, who represented Micklethwaite, said: “Throughout the 19 months that this case has been pursued, the three defendants maintained that their actions were necessary to prevent harm from being caused to people held at Brook House IRC who were facing deportation to Jamaica on a charter flight.
“Today’s acquittal of all three by a jury is welcomed; however, they should never have faced charges of causing a public nuisance for taking the action that they did.”
