Drax Convictions Quashed Due To Undercover Cop The Court of Appeal has quashed convictions of 29 environmental campaigners who protested in 2008 at Drax power station. The convictions came after a protest during which campaigners ambushed a fuel-carrying freight train on its way to Drax, the largest coal-fired power station in Europe. Those who took part in the non-violent protest were charged with obstructing engines or carriages on railways - an offence under the Malicious Damage Act 1861 - and sentenced at Leeds Crown Court in 2009 and 2010 for obstructing the railway. Among those involved was undercover police officer Mark Kennedy, who spent seven years posing as Mark "Flash" Stone. The actions of the former undercover policeman led to the collapse in 2011 of a case against six protesters accused of planning to invade the coal-fired Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire. It was because of the policeman's involvement in that, that the-then Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, in 2012 suggested there were concerns about the safety of the convictions of those involved in the Drax protests, and grounds for an appeal. The latest convictions were quashed because of the failure in the Drax case to disclose the fact that Mr Kennedy had been working undercover in the protest, the Appeal Court ruled. Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas said: "There was a complete and total failure, for reasons which remain unclear, to make a disclosure fundamental to the defence. In those circumstances, this court has no alternative but to quash the convictions. Outside court, Beth Stratford, speaking on behalf of the 29, said: "We are pleased because this shines a light on the underhand tactics of the police and the Crown Prosecution Service in their policing of political movements. It underlines further the need for public independent inquiry into the use of political policing. The collapse of the 2011 Nottinghamshire protests led to a review of police undercover tactics.