PROTESTERS gathered outside Bradford Crown Court on Friday as part of a national campaign.

The protest, which ran between 8.45am and 10am, was part of the national ‘Defend Our Juries’ campaign.

In explaining the campaign, Defend Our Juries says: “We are members of the public who are upholding the law to ensure that everyone is informed that when on a jury you have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to your conscience.

“This right has been enshrined in British law for centuries.”

The campaign claims that “judges in UK courtrooms are denying both defendants and jurors their rights by restricting what defendants can say in their trials and by limiting what jurors are allowed to hear” and that people have been “banned from explaining their motivations to the jury” for example, climate change and fuel poverty.

Ludi, 70, a retired university professor from Shipley, said: “The whole point of the jury system is to let ordinary people make a common sense check on the law.”

Dusty, a former director of Bradford Festival from Undercliffe said: “I believe that our juries should hear the whole truth and let them reach a fair and true verdict without judicial interference.”