Anti-terror arrest gran lashes out at ‘bad laws’

A 68-YEAR-OLD grandmother arrested under the latest anti-terror legislation yesterday said the British government was turning lawful people into terrorists.

Helen John, 68, of Otley, West Yorkshire, was arrested on Saturday by officers acting under the new Serious Organised Crime and Police Act while protesting outside the United States military base, RAF Menwith Hill, in North Yorkshire.

Ms John, who has five grandchildren, said: “I’m not a terrorist, I’m an ex-midwife.”

She said she was protesting against the act, which has designated some Ministry of Defence sites as subject to criminal trespass.

“I think the legislation has to be stopped, the law ought to be changed,” she said.

“They’ve now made trespass a criminal offence, trespass has never before been criminal. We’re moving further and farther away from the Magna Carta.

“This government is providing a set of circumstances which are turning lawful people into terrorists.

“People are retaliating against what they see as happening and they’re being labelled terrorists. This is nonsense.”

“I’ll support good laws but I will not support, and I will not honour, bad laws.”

Ms John, who was arrested along with 61-year-old campaigner Sylvia Boyes, was released on police bail to report back to Harrogate police station on April 15.

She said they simply walked around a ramp at the entry to the base which was designed to keep vehicles out.

The pair were carrying cable cutters and a hammer when they were arrested and could face up to 10 years in prison if deemed to have gone “equipped” to commit an offence at the base.