‘NEGOTIATOR’ ARRESTED AT WALLEYS QUARRY DEMO HITS OUT AT POLICE
Charges dropped against man who spent 10 hours in custody
A MAN who claimed to have been acting as a ‘negotiator’ when he was arrested during a Walleys Quarry protest has hit out at police.
Richard Fairclough, who lives in Silverdale, says he was put in handcuffs while trying to make peace so lorries bringing in materials to cap the controversial landfill could get through.
After what he says was around 10 hours in police custody, he was charged. The charges against him have since been dropped, but Richard doesn’t believe they should have been laid in the first place.
Staffordshire Police says it respects the Crown Prosecution Service’s decision to drop the charges, and that an officer’s job is to ‘balance the rights of individuals to protest, against the rights of those whose activities are impacted’.
Richard, aged 42, said: “I was at home and saw the protest on Facebook Live. I saw the police had the road closed off and all the wagons were being blocked from going into the site.
“I said to the organisers of the protest, from home, ‘I understand your frustrations, but you are also stopping the capping from getting in.’
“I went down and stood there talking. The police liaison officer knew exactly why I was there because I had spoken to him.
“I was sitting down and all of a sudden a policeman was telling me to get up. He said if I don’t move he will arrest me. I was there as a negotiator, I wasn’t protesting.
“It’s awful what they did. We went to the station and sat in the cells for 10-and-a-half hours.”
Richard has criticised the force for ‘wasting time’ following the arrests and then dropping the charges.
He added: “We did nothing wrong and all the charges have now been dropped.
“We always knew they were going to be dropped. They wasted time and could have used the resources elsewhere.
“I work on HS2 and we have protesters outside our gates every day of the week.
“They stand outside and the gates get locked. For my job I have to go and stand outside those gates and keep an eye on them.
“The other week there were 10 protesters. One police officer turned up and he was nice as pie with them.
“They are saying I was stopping people from working. The road on that day was closed by the police so nobody could get in or out. I had been there for half-an-hour before I got arrested.”
Staffordshire Police confirmed that court proceedings against Richard were discontinued by the CPS.
A spokesperson said: “The subject of the protests at Walleys Quarry is clearly an ongoing and emotive issue.
“The responsibility of the police is to balance the rights of individuals to protest, against the rights of those whose activities are impacted upon by the protests.
“The force is aware of the discontinuance in this case and it respects the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service.”