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North activists make claim for compensation

Sep 27 2009 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

TWO animal rights activists from the North have launched a High Court battle against cops for wrongful arrest, the Sunday Sun has learned.

Trevor Holmes

Trevor Holmes and Kerry Duggan, of South Tyneside, are among 15 campaigners who are seeking £250,000 from a police force for false imprisonment, breach of human rights, malicious prosecution and assault and battery in the wake of a demonstration which descended into chaos.

The pair, and fellow members of the anti-vivisection group, Speak, had been protesting against animal testing outside a theatre in Oxford when cops ordered them to move.

The protest was staged on Encaenia Day, an annual degree ceremony held by Oxford University, and cops cited powers under the Public Order Act in a bid to move them elsewhere . . . but minutes later cops said they were using different powers to get them to shift, leaving many baffled.

Confused campaigners staged a sit-down protest and several were arrested, handcuffed and dragged to police vans, and many were left “shaken and distressed” by their treatment.

Mr Holmes, 51, of West Boldon in South Tyneside was arrested at his North home 15 days later and charged with breaching the Public Order Act and obstructing the highway.

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