Tag Archives: save our sheffield trees

Tree campaigner speaks out after charges dropped

Calvin Payne, one of two protestors arrested in November for trying to prevent the felling of a 100-year-old tree, has spoken out after the Crown Prosecution Service decision to drop all charges. Simon Crump, a lecturer at Huddersfield University, and Calvin Payne, a local campaigner, were detained under trade union laws on suspicion of preventing tree surgeons from carrying out their work. The pair were due to face trial on 9 March, 2017, but were told on Friday that charges had been dropped “on the basis that it is not in the public’s interest to prosecute”. Sheffield Live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke to Calvin Payne.