Marine Offences Act 50 - Prosecutions 4

PROSECUTIONS - 4

On 4th September 1986 the former Captain of the Laser ship, MV Communicator appeared before Ipswich Magistrates to face charges under the MOA. At an earlier hearing he had denied agreeing to carry wireless equipment on the Communicator knowing, or having reasonable cause to believe, that it would be used for broadcasting purposes.

Before the hearing got underway defence counsel argued that his client as a British subject had been charged under the MOA with assisting an offshore radio station. However, he contended, the 1967 Act had been superseded by European law which prohibited discrimination on the grounds of nationality. In this case, he claimed, "English courts must give precedence and primacy to EEC law where there is a conflict between it and the UK law."

However, the magistrates supported the prosecution's view and ruled that the EEC law was intended only to prevent member states discriminating against foreigners, not to prevent action being taken against their own nationals. Therefore there was a case for the defendant to answer under the British Marine etc Broadcasting (Offences) Act, 1967.

After this ruling the case continued but no defence evidence was offered. Counsel for the defendant told the Court that he had taken the job because he was unemployed at the time and it was not clear to him that he was operating illegally. He had not been paid the full wages owed to him by the company behind Laser 558 and he was now unemployed again. The Court found him guilty of the offence and he was fined £150.

On 15th May 1987 eight people appeared before Sittingbourne Magistrates Court charged under the MOA with a large number of offences relating to the Communicator (in her days as home to Laser 558) and the Radio Caroline ship, Ross Revenge.

All the offences were said to have occurred between 1st January 1984 and 7th November 1985. Five were charged with conveying goods to the Communicator, two of the five were also accused of conspiring "to secure the making of broadcasts from a ship" and a further defendant was charged with "inviting persons to advertise from a ship on the high seas". Three were also accused of conspiring to supply records to the Communicator while two were charged with allegedly promoting the Laser 558 Disco in October 1984 and August 1985. Additionally one person was charged with publicising the times, wavelength and contents of broadcasts made by Radio Caroline in Time Out magazine on 28th February 1985 and 23rd April 1985.

The hearing was adjourned a number of times during the summer of 1987 and eventually seven of the nine cases were transferred to Canterbury Crown Court for hearing in November 1988.

On 18th November 1988 seven people, including two DJs, appeared before the Crown Court, Five were charged under the MOA with "conspiring to supply food, drink, medical aid and equipment" to the radio stations while two other people were accused of "conspiring to procure the making of broadcasts from the ships and of supplying records to DJs”.

Other charges levelled against some of the defendants were of "inviting a holiday company to advertise on one of the stations" and "illegally promoting the Laser 558 Roadshow." However, before the case proceeded the Director of Public Prosecutions dropped the charges against one defendant because of a procedural technicality and deferred the case involving the Laser 558 Roadshow.

The trial itself lasted several days and all defendants were ultimately found guilty as charged and fined £1,000 with £1,500 costs. They were given four months to pay their fines and warned that failure to do so would result in terms of imprisonment being imposed.

The case which was dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions was against the Editor of Time Out magazine, who was accused of publishing details of Radio Caroline's programmes. He said "The case calls into question the legality of any media examination where such examination includes the report of truthful information about station operators or programmes. Apparently the Government wishes the public to believe that pirate radio stations do not really exist. So the media must not, on pain of heavy fines, report any evidence to the contrary."

All convicted defendants appealed against their sentences and the appeal hearing took place on 19th March 1990. The appeal centred on a ruling given by the Crown Court judge and, it was argued by the defence, if that ruling was found to be flawed then the charges could not stand. Those accused believed that they were not breaking the law as Laser 558 was staffed entirely by American citizens. Therefore it was not covered by Section 3 of the MOA (which deals with the use of broadcasting equipment by British citizens on a foreign registered ship). The defence case was that in bringing the charges under Section 3 the prosecution had misinterpreted the provisions of the Act.

Despite these arguments the three Appeal Judges decided that the prosecution's interpretation of Section 3, and that of the Crown Court Judge, had been correct and dismissed the appeal.

On 27th November 1987 a Shoeburyness boatman (who had been fined £500 in September 1985 for delivering diesel fuel to the Ross Revenge), appeared in Court again, charged under the MOA with ferrying sightseers to the Ross Revenge. He had been apprehended when his vessel, Windy, was towed into Harwich in November 1985 after a rope became entangled in its propeller. The delay in hearing the charges was because the defendant had asked for them to be heard before a jury at the Crown Court.

At the Southend Crown Court hearing in November 1987 he pleaded guilty to three charges of allegedly supplying the Ross Revenge and was given a nine months jail sentence. Not surprisingly he lodged an appeal against his absurdly severe sentence.

On 13th January 1988 the Court of Appeal in London ruled that the sentence imposed on him was too long and ordered his immediate release. Nevertheless, by then he had already spent seven weeks in jail - the only person in Britain to have received a custodial sentence for contravening the provisions of the MOA.