Gran refuses to pay fines

Arthritic Judith Pritchard was ordered to pay £140 to the MoD in October for cutting through a perimeter fence at its Aldermaston nuclear weapons site last May.

She was arrested around midnight as she emerged from a tunnel, facing arc lights, a barrier of further fencing, razor wire and alarms.

But the Malvern granny, who pledged to honour a 12-month conditional discharge not to take direct action but refused to pay compensation "on principle", remained true to her word and appeared before Droitwich magistrates yesterday.

She admitted non-payment of fines - including a £150 court fine which she had agreed to pay.

Mark Lister, defending, said Pritchard, who joined the Trident Ploughshares campaign for nuclear disarmament in 1998, would rather face imprisonment than pay up.

"She is entirely consistent and clear that she will not pay the money," he said.

"She didn't pay the court fine because she knows compensation is paid first."

He said a distress warrant, involving bailiffs at her communally-entranced Frederick Road home, would be resisted by the non-violent protestor to the best of her ability.

"Prison, which is also an option, is not something she relishes, but her principles are such that she's prepared to go to jail," he said.

Magistrates, who opted for the distress warrant, told the grandmother-of-seven the bailiffs would be in touch, to which she vowed to take a "quiet approach" without complying.

At the October trial, she told the court she had been waiting since the bombing of Hiroshima to express her beliefs.

She had been involved with the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship for many years, but had waited to take direct action because of family commitments.

"Hiroshima gave the green light to the use of violence," she said.

"It has filtered down to penetrate our streets.

"If it's accepted right at the top, what can you expect?"