Day 3: Freshwater Five Appeal

Justice for the Freshwater Five”, on buoys from the Isle of Wight held by (from the left) Maisie Beere, Jess Green, Danny Payne, Scott Birtwistle and Nicky Green, outside the Royal Courts of Justice.

Day three of the Freshwater Five hearings have wrapped up. It was a shorter day, with court starting at 2pm. The families had brought buoys up from the Isle of Wight and took photos with these outside the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice. For some of the group, it was the first time seeing each other again in a decade. Everyone was working hard to support and lift each other up in a time when so much is at stake.

What happened in court? The expert evidence was wrapped up yesterday so today was a chance for the barrister for the Applicants, Joel Bennathan QC, to argue the first two grounds of appeal and some of the third (you can review those in the press briefing here).

There is lots still to cover, so court will be resuming tomorrow at 10am to hear the rest of the Applicants’ grounds, and to hear the Respondent in the appeal make submissions against the appeal being granted.

It is likely that the court will reserve judgement in the case - which means the judges will go away and think about it, and hand down the judgement some time afterwards.

We’ll keep you posted on here tomorrow as the hearing concludes. Keep the support coming for the men and their families. It feels wonderful for them to know they are not alone.

Love,
The APPEAL team

p.s. The BBC did a story with some interviews with the families today, that you can see here.