Government drops appeal against ruling over protester’s jury sign

The government has dropped its appeal against a ruling which dismissed an application to prosecute a 69-year-old for contempt of court for holding up a sign about jurors’ rights.

Former social worker Trudi Warner was charged last year for holding a sign outside Inner London Crown Court where the trial of climate activists was being heard. Her placard said: ‘Jurors. You have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to your conscience’. The sign referred to a marble plaque in the Old Bailey acknowledging jurors in the 1670 ‘Bushel’s case’, in which a jury refused a judge’s direction to find the defendants guilty.’

In April this year, the High Court dismissed the former Solicitor General’s application to prosecute Warner. Mr Justice Saini said Warner’s placard was ‘informative’ and ‘did not give instructions’, adding that the case demonstrated a ‘mischaracterisation of what Miss Warner did’.

The former Solicitor General’s lawyers had informed Warner’s lawyers they were appealing against the decision. Now the new government has decided to drop the appeal.

Warner, who was represented by Hodge Jones & Allen, said she was ‘so grateful’ for all the support she had received.

She added: ‘The challenges ahead will be making everyone aware of the right of jurors to acquit now that it’s absolutely unequivocal. It’s going to be so important in our barely functioning democracy where people are unequal under the law.

‘This principle may already have proved influential in courts where environmental defenders have been on trial, but it is also proving a threat to judges who are partisan and punitive, and appear to be unaccountable.

‘I’m so grateful that the collective efforts of Defend our Juries, Good Law Project, and Hodge Jones & Allen have influenced this wonderful outcome for myself.

‘However, there is much work still to do to empower jurors and address the appalling inequities in our legal system, which is treating young people, in particular, so harshly.’

Raj Chada, from Hodge Jones & Allen, who represents Warner, said: ‘Bearing in mind that the High Court had already said that the prosecution of our client was “fanciful”, abandoning this appeal is sensible and welcome, albeit overdue.’

Good Law Project’s legal manager Jennine Walker said: ‘It’s fantastic news that the new solicitor general has dropped her Conservative predecessor’s callous and absurd targeting of Trudi Warner.

‘Trudi can now finally move on from the Kafkaesque nightmare that’s been imposed upon her for the last year and a half.

‘People peacefully protesting and standing up for our planet in the midst of a climate emergency are still being dragged through the courts, while punitive policies put in place by the last government are still in force. We’re hoping to see the new Labour administration take a more rational approach which defends the right to protest.’

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