Mother accused of Syria link among dozens charged over printer blockade

Extinction Rebellion activists appear in court over protest that stopped publication of newspapers

A BRITISH mother-of-nine once accused of being a “jihadi bride” in Syria appeared in a British court yesterday charged with taking part in the Extinction Rebellion blockade that prevented newspapers being published on Friday.

Natalie Bracht, 45, gave an interview to a tabloid newspaper in the summer in which she denied any involvement in the Islamic State or ever having travelled to Syria and complained she was being treated like a terrorist when she had never done anything wrong.

Yesterday, Ms Bracht, who said she was “interrogated” by police on her return to the UK from Germany before being allowed into the country, is now facing charges of obstruction of the highway and obstruction of the police.

Ms Bracht is accused of being part of a protest at the printworks in Broxbourne in Hertfordshire at which a further 50 people have been charged with obstructing the highway. Hertfordshire police named those charged yesterday. A further 26 people charged for a separate blockade of a printworks in Knowsley were named on Sunday by Merseyside police.

Ms Bracht at first declined to speak when she appeared via video link from Stevenage Police Station for her court hearing at Luton magistrates’ court and turned down legal representation.

The district judge entered a not guilty plea on her behalf and described Ms Bracht as a woman of “proven good character’ with no previous convictions.

In an interview with The Sunday People, Ms Bracht said she once volunteered for the humans rights group Cage, whose research director later called “Jihadi John” a “beautiful young man”. Cage has said it has no record of her volunteering.

Ms Bracht came back to the UK as Covid-19 swept Europe on April 3 but she says she was stopped at Heathrow and questioned by Special Branch for more than three hours under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

“They asked me where I had stayed in Syria. I had to tell them a couple of times, ‘Guys, I wasn’t in Syria,’” she told the newspaper. In 2008, Ms Bracht was the subject of a nationwide search after she ran away from home in Sunderland with her then five daughters.

Ms Bracht was released on conditional bail to appear at St Albans magistrates’ court along with 50 other suspects and ordered not to go within 100 metres of the boundary of any Newsprinters premises. She was also told not to enter Hertfordshire before Nov 14 and not to attend any protest linked to Extinction Rebellion at any location in the UK up to the same date.

Among the plethora of characters also charged over the Broxbourne protest was Rebeccah Plenderleith, 50, author of a “saucy” guide to love. The mother-of-three, from Berkhamsted, Herts, has co-written several books with her husband, Allan, including The Odd Squad’s Guide to Love.

Also charged was Gail Thomas, 51, a businesswoman listed as a director of several companies, including Gems Lingerie, that makes “comfortable knickers”.

Mrs Thomas, a mother-of-two from Stamford, Lincs, is also the founder and chief executive of a virtual PA business, and director of business administration company Business Perpetual Ltd and a management consultancy firm called The Business Cafe.

Her Twitter profile lists her interests as “environment, equality, enterprise and animals” and reveals she is a supporter of Beyond Politics, the new political party founded by Extinction Rebellion’s co-founder, Roger Hallam.

A veteran protester, she used a fire extinguisher to spray fake crude oil on to the protective facade around Big Ben in February, as she called on the government and big corporations to cease fossil fuel extraction.

Also charged at Broxbourne was Laura Frandsen, 30, a masters student at the Royal College of Art, who had refused to present a physical collection at her graduate show in June 2019 as an environmental protest over consumption. Instead of a final clothing collection, Ms Frandsen, who lives in London, staged a “die-in” demonstration with the help of 20 Extinction Rebellion members dressed in their own clothes. Also charged was Craig Scudder, 54, from Harpenden. The former director of London Climbing Ltd, has long been affiliated with Extinction Rebellion, organising fundraising for the St Albans branch. It is possible he used his climbing expertise to help erect the bamboo scaffolds that protesters climbed to block roads outside the Newsprinters works at Broxbourne.

Another charged was 64-year-old Robert Mackenzie, a town councillor from Long Stratton, near Norwich. Mr Mackenzie owns a £600,000 farmhouse with a long drive and a silver Mazda MX-5 sports car parked alongside the house. He told The Daily Telegraph he could not comment when approached. “I’ll have to refer you to Extinction Rebellion’s press office, I’m afraid,” he said.

Also on the XR rebels’ list was 45-year-old Mark Fletcher, a recruitment consultant who is a director of “niche” recruitment firm Brightstar in Norwich. In a biography on his company website, Mr Fletcher says of himself: “When I’m not working I’m either dreaming about the next cool or unusual guitar I’d like to add to my collection or embarrassing myself in front of my kids at the skate park! I’m also fond of a decent craft beer or a good whisky.”

When The Telegraph called at his £340,000 house just outside of Norwich’s most desirable area, known as the “golden triangle”, Mr Fletcher referred The Telegraph to Extinction Rebellion’s press office.

Among others charged were Charlotte Kirin, 51, a social worker from Bury St Edmunds who follows a Dutch, holistic method of care called the Buurtzorg model.

Elise Yarde, 32, from Walthamstow in east London, who was charged over the blockade, set up a women’s group two years ago to break the taboo around periods and was named Woman of Walthamstow by a local group.

Gabriella Ditton, 26, from Norwich, was also part of the group. The freelance illustrator says she spends her free time “rebelling against the Government for their inaction on the climate crisis” and offers a discount to those who are “not trashing the planet”.

Jennifer Parkhouse, a 68-year-old veteran protester who has campaigned on environmental issues for more than 20 years, was also arrested and charged over an XR protest in London last October. In 2012, she criticised a decision by Arsenal football club to charter a private jet from London to Norwich for a match, which she described as “absolutely absurd”.

Sue Hampton, 64, from Berkhamsted, and once nominated for teacher of the year, was charged. She once taught at Dulwich College. She has written more than 30 books for children and adults.

Joel Scott-halkes, 28, from east London, whose grandfather is a canon, was also charged. He reportedly received up to £800 a month from Extinction Rebellion after deciding to give up working to become a full-time activist.

Steve Tooze, 56, a former Fleet Street journalist from London, had posted videos of himself at the blockade before his arrest, declaring: “I feel, as a former insider, they [newspapers] hold a huge amount of blame for the situation we are in today.”

Also charged is Tim Jones, 37, from London, a former religious education teacher at a secondary school in Greenwich who was last photographed living in a caravan. Earlier this year, he organised a protest outside the Department for Education to spray paint “teach the truth” on its walls.

Cleodie Rickard, 24, a Cambridge University graduate, was also arrested and charged. She now works as a policy and public affairs executive at Charities Aid Foundation. She staged a protest outside the home of Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, over the planning application in Tower Hamlets that prompted calls for him to quit.

Tristan Strange, 38, from Swindon had vowed to keep getting arrested after the Crown Prosecution Service dropped charges against him following Extinction Rebellion protests in London last year. Strange, finally charged over Friday’s blockade, was arrested three times in April 2019, when environmental protesters took over Waterloo Bridge and Parliament Square in demonstrations that lasted two weeks. “I’m going to repeatedly break the law until the government starts to listen,” he told the Swindon Advertiser.

Christopher Ford, 43, from Cambridge, is a special needs nursery assistant and another veteran activist. He was fined £620 by police after blocking traffic in Marble Arch during a protest last October and is now charged over the newspaper blockade.