Link Road protestors appear in court

On Monday (January 21), Christopher Bluemel, of Broadlands Road, Southampton, appeared at Hastings Magistrates Court to face one charge of obstructing or disrupting a person involved in a lawful activity.

The 31-year-old pleaded not guilty to the charge and was released on bail.

On Tuesday Dominic Langford, 19, of Taffs Well, Cardiff, faced the court charged with wilfully obstructing the highway and resisting arrest.

The teenager is alleged to have staged a protest at the top of a telegraph pole in Crowhurst last week.

Langford denied both the charges and was granted bail on the condition he does not enter the area where work on the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road is taking place.

Sheffield man Oliver Sumerling, of Carfield Avenue, appeared in court on Tuesday to plea not guilty to charges of common assault and obstruction.

The 26-year-old, who is alleged to have occupied trees during the protests, has been released on bail on the condition he does not return to where work on the BHLR is being carried out.

Alex Etchart, 22, of Patshull Road, London, also appeared before Hastings magistrates on Tuesday charged with common assault and obstruction.

Etchart, who is also alleged to have taken part in a tree top protest, has been granted bail by the court with the same conditions as Langford and Sumerling.

All four men are due to reappear at Hastings Magistrates Court on February 6.