4.5
the first witness statement of Julian Diaz-Rainey of the Claimant’s solicitor 7 ; and
4.6
my first affidavit 8 ;
5.
In summary, the Claimant owns Epsom Racecourse, which hosts the Epsom Derby Festival, a horse-racing festival set across 2 days each year including the most prestigious race, the Epsom Derby, on the Saturday. In response to a threat from animal rights protesters to disrupt the Derby Festival, as they had done at the previous Grand National, the Claimant issued proceedings against the First to Eighth Defendants, applying concurrently for an interim order to prohibit the Derby Festival from being disrupted. The Court granted an order in the terms of the order of Sir Anthony Mann of 26 May 2023 (the “ Order ”) 9 . My first affidavit deals with matters following the Order, which can be summarised as follows. The Ninth Defendant was interviewed on BBC Radio Surrey on 2 June 2023 where he confirmed he knew of the Order 10 . Shortly after the start of the Epsom Derby, the Ninth Defendant ran on to the Racetrack near to the start-finish line. It took the efforts of several police officers and stewards to apprehend the Ninth Defendant. I refer the Court to the statements of PC Stevens and PC Hodgkins 11 . The Ninth Defendant was subsequently arrested, charged and found guilty of a public order offence. He was given an 18 week suspended sentence (having been refused bail following his arrest, so having been in prison for around 1 month), ordered to complete 80 hours of unpaid work, and ordered to pay costs. The Claimant subsequently brought a contempt of court application against the Ninth Defendant. He was given a further suspended custodial sentence, gave several undertakings and ordered to pay costs. The Court is referred to the Order of Mr Justice Miles of 11 October 2023 (the “ Committal Order ”) 12 .
6.
7.
The purpose of this witness statement is to update my evidence to the Court.
The Epsom Racecourse
8.
As set out at paragraphs 20 to 24 of my first witness statement, the geography at Epsom Racecourse is different to other racetracks and as a result, it is more vulnerable to trespass 13 . As set out at paragraph 27 of my first witness statement, this is because it is possible for individuals without tickets to view the Epsom Derby
6 Pages 406-410 of NT4 7 Pages 411-436 of NT4 8 Pages 134-346 of NT4 9 Pages 437-452 of NT4 10 Pages 313-314 of NT4 11 Pages 453-458 of NT4 12 Pages 459-463 of NT4 13 Pages 5-6 of NT4
3
JDR2 / 4
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online