GM protesters charged

FORTY-SIX people appeared in court yesterday following the destruction of a field of maize at a farm where genetically-modified crops were being tested.

The defendants appeared at Lincoln magistrates court in a day-long hearing, each facing one charge of conspiracy to cause criminal damage.

The group was arrested by Lincolnshire police at Home Farm, Spital in the Street, Lincs, on Saturday.

The first of the defendants to appear in court yesterday were greeted with cheers, whistles and applause from a packed public gallery as they stepped into the dock just before 11am.

Bail was granted to 43 of the defendants, who range in age from 16 to 62.

They are due to reappear before Lincoln magistrates on September 13, when their case is expected to be committed to be heard by a Crown Court judge.

Those denied bail were Gary Lawson, 27, from Sheffield, Karoline Hughes- Dennis, 23, from Fenham, Newcastle upon Tyne, and Melanie Jarman, 28, from Oxford.