Jordan, John

John Jordan was arrested and prosecuted following a “Reclaim the Streets” protest in August 1996. In January 1997 at Horsferry Road Magistrates Court he pleaded not guilty to assault on a police officer and guilty to unlawful possession of a police helmet.

He was convicted of both offences and received a conditional discharge for 12 months in relation to the first and an absolute discharge in relation to the second.

Mr Jordan stood trial with nine other defendants who were all members of the environmental activist group known as Reclaim the Streets. On 7 August 1996 demonstrators took part in an organised cycle ride in central London in support of striking London Underground train drivers.

Following this event some of the demonstrators moved on to the headquarters of London Transport. Mr Jordan and others were charged with offences after gaining entry to the building.

In May 1997 Mr Jordan appealed against his assault conviction but the appeal was dismissed. He applied to the CCRC in September 2011 for a review of his convictions for both offences.

Following review, the CCRC concluded that there had been a failure at trial to reveal the involvement of an undercover police officer which compromised the capacity of the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether to prosecute and how to proceed fairly. The Court had also been misled.

The CCRC considered that this amounted to an affront to justice requiring a stay of proceedings in order to safeguard the integrity of the criminal justice system.

The CCRC referred the conviction in July 2013.

The Crown Court quashed the conviction in September 2014.