Nuclear protesters' convictions quashed

A group of environmental protesters sentenced for planning to shut down the UK's second-largest power station had their convictions overturned at the Court of Appeal yesterday.

The ruling came after it was revealed that the protesters had been infiltrated by an undercover police officer, Mark Kennedy.

The 20 activists had been convicted of conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass at the coal-fired Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire. In January, they walked free from Nottingham Crown Court with a mixture of community orders and conditional discharges.

Lord Judge, who heard the appeal, said there had been "significant" non-disclosure of material "supportive of the defence ".