Government 'to bankrupt' anti-nuclear campaigner

Britain's most persistent peace campaigner, Lindis Percy, is being forced into bankruptcy by the Government over unpaid legal costs totalling nearly £50,000.

Lawyers for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) have told Ms Percy, a 60-year-old health visitor from Hull, that they will be asking the courts to have her declared bankrupt because she refused to pay the £49,500 it claims she owes after losing two cases against the Government.

Their legal action is an unprecedented step against an anti-nuclear campaigner, After 20 years of her protests against British nuclear weapons and the presence of US forces in Britain, the MoD, Crown Prosecution Service and the US government have come to regard Ms Percy as a major irritant.

She has been arrested hundreds of times for offences such as breaking local by-laws, trespass, and breach of the peace, and imprisoned on numerous occasions.

Ms Percy has also mounted and in some cases won, legal challenges against the expansion of US bases such as Menwith Hill, the legal status of Ministry of Defence police officers and of local by-laws, and the development of US facilities in Britain linked to the "Star Wars" programme.

The MoD refused to comment yesterday, but opposition MPs said the change in tactics was a costly and spiteful over-reaction. "It seems unnecessarily heavy-handed," said Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes. "The MoD should be big enough to tolerate free speech."

"Even if I had the money, I wouldn't pay it," said M Percy. "What I'm involved in is a public interest and health issue. I can't separate this from my job in public health."