Grandmother confined to court

Faslane: The base houses Trident submarines

A 70-year-old anti-nuclear campaigner has been confined to a courtroom for one day for non-payment of a fine.

Grandmother Joan Meredith was given the unusual punishment because of her part in a protest against the Trident nuclear programme.

Northumberland magistrates invoked a little-used power to detain Mrs Meredith within the precinct of the court until the close of business at 1600BST on Monday.

The grandmother had been prepared to be sent to prison but the magistrates said that would serve no useful purpose.

Nuclear protest

The retired teacher was told instead to find a comfortable seat and to sit through the remainder of the cases.

Trident submarine: focus of nuclear protests

The campaigner had been given a suspended jail sentence last month for the non-payment of a £100 fine handed out earlier this year.

She had been found guilty of breach of the peace following a protest at the Faslane Naval Base near Glasgow last May.

But she refused to pay the fine, claiming that her protest had been taken on moral grounds.

Before the hearing Mrs Meredith said she was prepared to go to prison for what she believed in.

She said: "I don't want to go to prison but it is something I am prepared to do because of my beliefs.

"My children are supporting me, I would not say that they are proud, but they understand the reasons for my action."

Later she explained to magistrates why she had refused the pay the fine.

She said: "I have not paid because I am a member of Trident Ploughshare which is working for nuclear disarmament and the dismantling of the Trident submarines."

Centre of protests

"I have pledged to work with them and the non-payment of the fine is part of the protest."

She said her original protest at Faslane was morally correct, saying: "I think I have the right as a citizen to make a protest against nuclear weapons."

Faslane is the centre of continued demonstrations against Trident nuclear submarines.

More than 150 protesters have been arrested at the Scotland base in the last week.