News in brief

Helen John and Sylvia Boyes, both charged under the Serious Organised Crime Act for breaking into Menwith Hill, the US spy base in North Yorkshire, will go to trial on the from 9 to 11 January 2007.

The pair were arrested on 1 April 12006, as the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (S128) came into force for additional designated sites - criminalising trespass at a number of military and nuclear facilities across Britain. Both women had visited the North Yorkshire spy base to illustrate the extent to which “anti terror” legislation is being used to stifle and criminalise legitimate peaceful protest.

Helen John will also face trial in Ipswich on 17 November. She was arrested and charged after trying to gain entry to Lakenheath (see above).

On 18 October, prison welfare campaigner and retired schoolteacher Pauline Campbell was arrested at the gates of HMP Eastwood Park after refusing to move from the entrance road.

The women's prison, near Gloucester, was targeted following the death of 28-year-old Lisa Anne Woodhall on 8 October. Despite being identified as being at risk of self-harm she was found hanging in her cell. This was the thirteenth time Pauline Campbell has been arrested since the death of her 18-year old-daughter Sarah in Styal Prison in 2003.