THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE NICKLIN Approved Judgment
MBR Acres Ltd -v- Free the MBR Beagles
apparent that the earlier formulation – prohibiting approaching/obstruction of any vehicle “directly” entering or exiting the exclusion zone – had the potential to catch behaviour that the injunction was not designed to prevent. A particular example was an occasion in which a police vehicle was about to exit the exclusion zone when it was obstructed by protestors who wanted to ascertain what was happening to a person who had been arrested. The exclusion zone has always been recognised to be an expedient, justified because it is the best way of avoiding the flashpoints that have occurred between the protestors and those coming and going to/from the Wyton Site. However, the Court will keep the terms of the any interim injunction under review – and in appropriate cases will make changes to the terms of the order – to ensure that they are not having an unintended effect. The revised restrictions now more directly focus on the obstruction of vehicles travelling to/from the Wyton Site where that obstruction is for the purpose of protesting. 11. Sub-paragraph (4) contained a new prohibition upon interfering with and/or damaging the perimeter fence of the Wyton Site. I was satisfied on the Claimants’ evidence that the relevant Defendants had been damaging or interfering with the fence. Such actions are tortious, are not an exercise of a right to protest and the balance of convenience clearly favoured an interim prohibition. The Claimants had asked for a 1 metre exclusion zone to be imposed around the entire perimeter of the Wyton Site. I refused to make such an order. The correct way of targeting this particular wrongdoing is by making a direct order that prohibits that behaviour, not an indirect order that would also restrict lawful activities. The Claimants do not own the land over which they were seeking the imposition of this further exclusion zone, so I was not persuaded that there was an adequate legal basis upon which to impose the wider restriction that they had sought. (4) Concerns as to the operation of the interim injunction order 12. The operation of the interim injunction over the last 12 months has given cause for concern about whether the order is being used by the Claimants as a ‘weapon’ against the protestors or their supporters. The contempt application against Ms McGivern was dismissed. I found that the breaches alleged against Ms McGivern were trivial: see McGivern Contempt Judgment [96]. The Claimants well know, and fully understand, the basis on which the exclusion zone has been imposed. It is not to be used by the Claimants as an opportunity to take action against protestors for trivial infringements that have none of the elements that led to the grant of the interim injunction and are not otherwise unlawful acts. Ultimately, if there were to be any repetition of contempt applications being brought for trivial infringements, then the Court might have to reconsider the terms of the interim injunction order that should remain in place pending trial. B: The variation application 13. The Application Notice seeking the variation to the interim injunction was issued on 22 March 2022. By the time of the hearing on 7 October 2022, and in light of the amendments to the interim injunction that had been granted by the Order of 2 August 2022 (see [9] above), the Claimants had narrowed the terms of the variation that they sought.
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