Exclusive: Data obtained by the Guardian substantiates claims that hundreds of innocent people banned from attending lawful demonstrations

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Police are being accused of trying to muzzle protest movements as figures obtained by the Guardian reveal the widespread use of bail to ban hundreds of innocent people from attending lawful demonstrations.

The data shows that around 85% of those barred from protesting when bailed have not been subsequently charged with any crime. Civil liberties and protest groups accused police of dealing out their own justice and called for a change in the law.

The figures show that a least 732 people have been banned by police forces in England and Wales since 2008 but then never charged. They come as the government confirms it is considering overhauling the police bail rules.

“Bail is becoming an instrument that is being used by people without recourse to the judicial process. It is to essentially punish protesters and curb their right to demonstrate,” said Rachel Harger of leading human rights law firm Bindmans.

“It is effectively the police conducting their own extra-judicial justice without going to court.”

Rachel Robinson, Liberty’s policy officer, said: “The lack of limits on police bail make it liable to abuse and misuse, and can act to frustrate, rather than further, prosecutions.

“Its use against protesters raises particular concerns, potentially chilling peaceful dissent for protracted periods without any prospect of criminal conviction.”

The Network for Police Monitoring, a group of activists and lawyers who are compiling evidence of police strategies, said: “Police bail is used a means of disrupting protest activity without the inconvenience of dealing with a formal legal process.

“As a result of the police’s long track record of misusing pre-charge conditions against protesters in an irresponsible way, we believe the only solution is the complete withdrawal of this power for all protest-related offences.”

According to Hannah Dee of Defend the Right to Protest, the use of pre-charge bail against protesters was linked to the mass arrests and stringent conditions placed on demonstrations by police in recent years.

Data collected by the Guardian suggest that 855 people have been banned by police forces in England and Wales since 2008. However, in only 123 cases could police convince the CPS that there was enough evidence to prosecute and that doing so would be in the public interest.

The data was collected using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) supplemented by other corroborating sources. Those included the Network for Police Monitoring, the Legal Defence and Monitoring Group - which helps people arrested on protests – eyewitnesses and public statements by police forces.

Additional research has suggested the actual number of bans imposed could be far greater because some custody sergeants gave bail conditions not picked up by the scope of the Guardian’s FOI requests.

One of those affected was Kelly Rogers, who said she was one of 10 given a “blanket ban on all protests” by West Midlands police.

Rogers said she was barred from associating with fellow arrestees, entering any university or congregating with more than 10 people. No criminal charge was ever brought against her.

“Ultimately, their only aim could have been to stop us protesting again, even though it is our right to do so,” she said.

Her comments were backed up by Shanice McBean, who was one of many banned from demonstrating against the BNP within the M25 by the Met after being arrested at a demo in 2013. Her conditions lasted around six months, she told the Guardian.

According to the data, the Metropolitan police have banned around 500 people since 2008, with only around 15 ever charged.

The City of London, Essex and Sussex police forces banned 120 people between them. They had an average charge rate of just one in seven.

Essex handled the controversial Dale Farm Traveller site clearance in 2011, while Sussex policed the recent Balcombe fracking protests.

Additionally, 250 people involved in the Barton Moss anti-fracking demonstration were given post-charge protest bans by Greater Manchester police that a court found too restrictive, their lawyer told the Guardian.

Simon Pook of Robert Lizar solicitors called the conditions “draconian” and said they breached his clients’ rights to freedoms of expression and to assembly.

Unlike those covered by the FOI requests, Pook’s clients had been charged with various offences and their bail conditions would, therefore, inevitably be subject to judicial oversight.

There is no limit on how long a person can be made to submit to pre-charge bail and a custody sergeant does not need a court’s permission to hand out a protest ban. If it is flouted, the protester is liable for arrest for breach of bail. People on pre-charge bail have the right to appeal to a magistrate.

The policing minister, Mike Penning, said the government was due to begin consultation on pre-charge bail reform.

“The home secretary has been clear that it is wrong for people to spend months, or even years, on police bail with no judicial oversight or accountability.

“In parallel, the College of Policing is developing evidence-based guidance to bring consistency, transparency and rigour to the way in which pre-charge bail is used in criminal investigations,” he said.

The Association of Chief Police Officers said on Friday: “The police service’s primary concern is public safety, which is why we take very seriously our responsibilities in balancing that safety with protecting the right of lawful, peaceful protest and acting against disorder where necessary during protest situations.

“We are participating thoroughly in the review of the bail system, which does need to be overhauled, and are committed to maintaining the equilibrium between civil liberties and public order.”

In Northern Ireland, where the context around marches and demonstrations is different to that in mainland UK, 90% of the 373 people banned were subsequently charged. Pre-charge bail is not used in Scotland.