Prosecution drops case against police accused of not protecting protester

[unhappycamper]

Prosecution drops case against police accused of not protecting protester
By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, May 18, 2008

RAF MILDENHALL, England — A British prosecutor has dropped charges against two British Ministry of Defence policemen accused of failing to protect a peace protester who claimed she was assaulted by a U.S. airman at RAF Croughton.

The activist, Lindis Percy, 66, was detained by Airman 1st Class Frank McDonald after breaking onto the base in 2006. She claims she was roughed up while being taken into custody.

The MoD officers, Barry Athawes and Kenneth Woodhouse, were accused of misconduct in a public office for allegedly not intervening when McDonald detained Percy. But prosecutor Lawrence English dropped the charges shortly after hearing testimony from Percy at a May 6 hearing.

"I decided there was not sufficient evidence to continue," English, with the Crown Prosecution Service in Northamptom, said Friday.

The court last month canceled an arrest warrant for McDonald, a Security Forces airman with the 422nd Air Base Squadron at Croughton, after the Air Force filed a certificate of military duty with the court on his behalf. It essentially prevents British courts from assuming jurisdiction in the case under the United Kingdom’s Visiting Forces Act of 1952, English said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54905