The test case of two peace campaigniners accused of breaking new anti-terrorism laws has been adjourned for the Attorney General to consider his position.
District Judge Martin Walker adjourned the case of Keighley pensioners Helen John and Sylvia Boyes at Harrogate Magistrates' Court, to give Lord Goldsmith more time to scrutinise the legal position.
He said: "This case has a degree of importance - it is a test case.
"I am told that the Attorney General wishes to consider his position and the legal position so the Crown is asking for a longer period of preparation."
The case had been re-opened today, four weeks after the original hearing was adjourned on the second day of what was expected to be a three-day trial.
John, 69, of Wren Street, and Boyes, 63, of Wimborne Drive, have both denied entering a "designated" site, namely Menwith Hill, the US spy base between Skipton and Harrogate, as trespassers contrary to the Anti-Terrorism Act.
They ducked under the barrier of the site on the day the Act came into force - April 1 last year - carrying a claw hammer and wire cutters in a bag.
Mr Walker stopped the trial when new evidence relating to recent case law was presented by John.
She also claimed that as Menwith Hill was a US base, as such it should not have been named in the Act as a designated site.
Mr Walker told the court yesterday that John's claim that Menwith Hill was not a UK base was an element which the Crown Prosecution Service needed to consider, in line with national security.
He said: "It must produce some evidence as to what this base is, what it does and who controls it and who is in ultimate command."
He told the court he would be adjourning the proceedings until Friday, June 8, for an interim hearing.
Both John and Boyes were granted bail with the condition that they must not go beyond the yellow demarcation perimeter line at Menwith Hill.
After the hearing John said she believed it was significant that the Attorney General was being consulted.
e-mail: clive.white@bradford.newsquest.co.uk
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