Criminal proceedings against eight people accused of being involved in a 12-hour long protest outside Basingstoke's McDonald's depot have been dropped.

The case against the seven females and one male, accused of aggravated trespass after the blockade outside the Martin Brower depot in May, has been discontinued.

The group were also charged with an offence of watching or beseting a house or place to compel the abstention or doing of a lawful act, an offence under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.

They pleaded not guilty to the charges.

They were due to stand trial in February 2022, but the case was dropped at a previous court hearing.

The reason why the case was discontinued is not known. The Crown Prosecution Service has been contacted for comment.

The national demonstration saw activists take a stand, constructing bamboo towers outside four of the fast food chain’s major warehouses, including in Basingstoke. Other sites in Coventry, Hemel Hempstead and Heywood were affected.

The activists were calling on the company to commit to an entirely meat free menu by 2025 in light of the climate emergency.

Eight people were arrested and charged with aggravated trespass.

They were also charged with restricting access for employees to the warehouse on Houndmills Road.

The group, none of whom are from Basingstoke, were removed by police and arrested on Saturday evening (May 22), after around 12 hours of demonstration.

Demonstrators arrived at 4am, setting up bamboo structures outside both entrances and pledging to remain tied to the top of them for 24 hours.

The eight people that had been charged with the offences were:

  • Sidney Davies, 22, from Chessel Street, Bristol
  • Kiera Ilett-Jones, 24, from Albemarle Road, Beckenham
  • Rose Patterson, 32, of no fixed abode
  • Adam Haigh, 22, of no fixed abode
  • Jasmine Edna Maslen, 19, from the Isle of Wight
  • Bethany Joy Croarkin, 26, of Denham Country Park, Uxbridge
  • Jennifer Louise D'Netto, 52, of Rothwell Road, Malvern Wells
  • Elizabeth Flynn, 33, formerly of The Avenue, Tottenham

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: “After a review of this case we concluded the legal test for a prosecution was not met. “Where there is not a realistic prospect of conviction it is right that the CPS ends a case.”