how we would work together to ensure that those in attendance were safe.
13.3
14.
As part of our security planning for the 2023 Festival, we recruited three, private security services providers to provide complementary services alongside the police services that we had contracted, per the ASPS. They were G4S, who are the Applicant's main provider of security services at its racecourses, Provide, and WH Security (together the "Private Security Providers"). On 1 April 2023, an article was published in the Mail on Sunday with the title `Vegan mob plots to sabotage the Grand National: undercover investigation exposes plan by up to 100 Animal Rebellion activists to storm the event and glue themselves to the course' (the "Article") [pages 8 to 17 of DW1]. The Article alleged that a journalist working for the Mail on Sunday had infiltrated AR' and had discovered that, inter alia:
15.
15.1
its ringleaders had conducted two secret reconnaissance missions of the Racecourse to pinpoint security weaknesses;
a fleet of minibuses was being hired to ferry protesters and equipment to the Racecourse;
15.2
more than 100 activists had signed up to the plan, which was being organised via the encrypted mobile phone application 'Signal';
15.3
15.4
some activists planned to use ladders to scale the Racecourse's security fence, while others would be tasked with cutting holes in the fences using bolt cutters; and
once in the Racecourse itself, protesters planned to glue themselves together and sit down, forming a human barrier across the Racetrack.
15.5
The content of the Article, and the exposure of AR's intentions, caused us to significantly review our plans to take into account the threat of disruption. In response, alongside our Private Security Providers, we held an urgent meeting with Merseyside Police to discuss how to respond to AR's plans. We reviewed our policies and procedures and decided to increase the amount of daytime and overnight security we had on site from Monday 10 April onwards — i.e., four days in advance of the start of the 2023 Festival. We increased both the number of security personnel and the number of security dogs. The overall cost to the Applicant for this additional security — which continued throughout the 2023 Festival — was approximately £70,000 +VAT.
16.
In the week preceding the 2023 Festival, I was advised by Merseyside Police that they had obtained intelligence that suggested protestors were intending to disrupt the
17.
lit is my understanding that AR and 'Animal Rebellion' (who are named in the Article) are one and the same organisation, and that following publication of the Article, Animal Rebellion simply changed its name to AR [pages 18 to 21 of D1A/1]. 4
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