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38-728: The Anti-Terrorist Branch (originally known as the Bomb Squad) was formed in January 1971 to deal with the Angry Brigade . During the 1970s it assisted in the campaign against the IRA , alongside Special Branch and the Security Service (MI5) . In 2005, the branch had 345 officers attached to it, with funding for another 500 being sought. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner , Ian Blair , announced later that year that some of

76-410: A condition of her parole, and remained a Cambridge resident for the rest of her life. Her father gave an interview to BBC Radio explaining that prison had had a terrible effect on her, making it impossible for her to concentrate. He also said that she had taken no part in the bombings and that she and the other defendants were "good young people" who tried to help others. After her release, she adopted

114-580: A history of the Angry Brigade and an update on what its former members were doing then. On 9 August 2002, BBC Radio 4 aired Graham White's historical drama, The Trial of the Angry Brigade . Produced by Peter Kavanagh , this was a reconstruction of the trial combined with other background information. The cast included Kenneth Cranham , Juliet Stevenson , Tom Hiddleston and Mark Strong . In 2009, family care activist and novelist Erin Pizzey won

152-403: A libel case against Macmillan Publishers after Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain had falsely linked her to the Angry Brigade. The publisher also recalled and destroyed the offending version of the book, and republished it with the error removed. The link to the Angry Brigade was made in 2001, in an interview with The Guardian , in which the article states that she was "thrown out" of

190-497: A minimum. The campaign started in August 1970 and continued for a year until arrests took place the following summer. Targets included banks , embassies , a BBC Outside Broadcast vehicle earmarked for use in the coverage of the 1970 Miss World event , and the homes of Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs). In total, police attributed 25 bombings to the Angry Brigade. The bombings mostly caused property damage ; one person

228-456: A political meeting. On 27 February 1971, Mendleson and Greenfield visited Liverpool to discuss founding a new radical libertarian newspaper; after leaving the meeting they and three others drove to Greenfield's nearby home town of Widnes to go to a pub . The police were called by someone who thought the group looked suspicious and when Greenfield had no documents for their hire car, all five were arrested. Police searches discovered cannabis and

266-446: A search warrant was obtained. At 16:15 on 20 August the police entered the flat and arrested Mendleson, Creek, Barker and Greenfield. Mendleson again gave her name as Nancy Pye. The police reported that their searches of 359 Amhurst Road discovered not only duplicating equipment on which Angry Brigade publications had been produced, but a stick of gelignite , two submachine guns , a Browning pistol and 81 rounds of ammunition. Mendleson

304-455: A series of bomb attacks in England between 1970 and 1972. Using small bombs, they targeted banks , embassies , a BBC Outside Broadcast vehicle, and the homes of Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs). In total, police attributed 25 bombings to the Angry Brigade. The bombings mostly caused property damage ; one person was slightly injured. Of the eight people who stood trial, known as

342-504: A stolen Essex University cheque book; the five gave false names and were bailed to report to Colchester Police Station. The newspaper eventually appeared under the name Strike ; for it Mendleson wrote an article on "Judges and the Law". After the arrests the police linked the case to other stolen cheque books and, on 11 June 1971, Mendleson was one of six people to be charged with conspiracy to defraud. However she had jumped bail and her picture

380-443: Is inspired by the Angry Brigade. The Angry Brigade is a 2014 play by James Graham. 4 May – Attempted assassination of Marcia Anastasia Christoforides Dunn Beaverbrook . A bomb was attached to the bottom of her car, however the bomb was discovered before it exploded, and the bomb was disarmed. 12 January – Attempted assassination of Robert Carr. Two bombs exploded at the home of British Employment Secretary Robert Carr, his house

418-557: The Home Office until 13 February 1977, causing a storm of press coverage which one reporter described as "scandalous and distasteful". The issue was raised in Parliament with Home Secretary , Merlyn Rees , saying that Mendleson was no longer a danger to society; William Whitelaw criticised the decision and asserted that protection of the public and police morale came first. Mendleson moved to Cambridge to live with friends as

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456-670: The Stoke Newington Eight, four were acquitted. John Barker, along with Hilary Creek, Anna Mendelssohn and Jim Greenfield, were convicted on majority verdicts, and sentenced to ten years. In a 2014 interview, Barker described the trial as political, but acknowledged that "they framed a guilty man". In mid-1968 demonstrations took place in London, centred on the US embassy in Grosvenor Square , against US involvement in

494-517: The Angry Brigade and with Mendleson a wanted person (although for cheque fraud only), the police were interested in finding any addresses where she might be found. Mendleson was keeping in regular touch with her family in Stockport and a police informer there passed the Amhurst Road address to police on 18 August 1971. An observation was set up and when Jim Greenfield was seen leaving the flat,

532-672: The New Era Academy of Drama and Music from 1957 to 1967, and performed at several Northern Music Festivals. In September 1967, Mendleson went up to the University of Essex to read English Literature and American History. In May 1968, she went to Paris, to join in the student political rising ; what she saw had a great effect on her political thinking. In 1969 she dropped out of her university course rather than continue into her final year, but remained living in Wivenhoe around

570-470: The Vietnam War . One of the organisers of these demonstrations, Tariq Ali , has said he recalls an approach by someone representing the Angry Brigade who wished to bomb the embassy; he told them it was a terrible idea and no bombing took place. The Angry Brigade decided to launch a bombing campaign with small bombs, in order to maximise media exposure to their demands while keeping collateral damage to

608-523: The alternative spelling of her surname Mendelssohn. She spent some time in Sheffield, where she started a family and had three children. Mendelssohn moved to Cambridge in about 1985, studying poetry at St Edmund's College, Cambridge , and devoting her life to poetry and art. She became opposed to technology and disliked judgments based on rationality in favour of those based on an artistic judgment, which led to her life becoming increasingly disconnected from

646-459: The cells she called out "I would like to say thank you to the two members of the jury who had faith in us". Along with others convicted in the trial, Mendleson appealed against both verdict and sentence, being represented by Michael Mansfield . The appeals failed. Mendleson was quietly released on parole in November 1976, just four years after the end of the trial. The news was not disclosed by

684-688: The committal hearing complained that five months in Holloway had caused "isolation and repression, both physical and mental". The resulting trial of eight defendants at the Old Bailey became the longest criminal trial at that point in English legal history, Mendleson was one of three defendants to represent themselves; the "Stoke Newington Eight Defence Group" argued that this was the right decision as they had challenged prosecution witnesses and exposed several as liars. However her health suffered and she

722-466: The content. She was first published in 1986, according to a later reviewer, through "a series of home-made, distributed hand to hand, photographed-manuscript feuilles volantes ". In 1988 two of her poems were published under the title La Facciata as issue number 5 of Poetical Histories , with a cover design by the author. Three volumes of her poetry were published by Equipage under the literary pseudonym Grace Lake. Viola Tricolor published in 1993

760-587: The feminist movement after threatening to inform police about a planned bombing by the Angry Brigade of the clothes shop Biba . "I said that if you go on with this – they were discussing bombing Biba [the legendary department store in Kensington] ;– I'm going to call the police in, because I really don't believe in this". The group and trial feature in Jake Arnott 's 2006 novel Johnny Come Home . Hari Kunzru 's 2007 novel My Revolutions

798-520: The intent to assassinate the Spanish dictator General Franco , and Angela Mason who became a director of the LGBT rights group Stonewall and was awarded an OBE for services to homosexual rights. In February 2002, Prescott apologised for his role in bombing Robert Carr 's house and called on other members of the Angry Brigade to also come forward. On 3 February 2002, The Guardian reported

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836-754: The one who was angry and the people [he] met were more like the Slightly Cross Brigade". The other members of the group from North-East London, the "Stoke Newington Eight", were prosecuted for carrying out bombings as the Angry Brigade in one of the longest criminal trials of English history (it lasted from 30 May to 6 December 1972). As a result of the trial, John Barker, Jim Greenfield, Hilary Creek and Anna Mendelssohn received prison sentences of 10 years. A number of other defendants were found not guilty, including Stuart Christie , who had previously been imprisoned in Spain for carrying explosives with

874-519: The police should have planted guns and explosives on her. She noted that at the time of the Manchester bombing she had been living in Wivenhoe where doors were left open and people borrowed each other's magazines, and she had been able to produce unchallenged alibi witnesses to the fact that she was in Wivenhoe when the bomb was planted. Although she knew others in the case, she asserted that there

912-540: The relationship between water and language. In 2000, a full book of Mendelssohn's poetry was published by Salt Publishing under its Folio imprint and Equipage, this time not using her pseudonym. As with previous publication, it was due to efforts from others, rather than Mendelssohn herself, that Implacable Art was taken up by its publishers; it included some of her line drawings, and some poetry appeared in handwritten form. Mendelssohn collapsed in February 2009, and

950-573: The rest of society. Such a lifestyle meant she was not greatly interested in seeing her poetry published, but others thought that her work deserved a larger audience. She is said to have had poems published in the Sheffield Free Press. Also, a volume of poetry, due to be published by the Common Ground Printing Co-operative, was reportedly removed prior to publication after the printer sought to censor

988-626: The specialist operations units were to be "re-aligned". In 2006 the Anti-Terrorist Branch and the Special Branch were merged, creating a new unit, the Counter Terrorism Command , or SO15. This United Kingdom law enforcement agency article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Angry Brigade The Angry Brigade was a far-left British terrorist group responsible for

1026-729: The university for several months. In early 1970 she was living in York Way in the King's Cross area of London, and was a close friend of a group including some university friends who were living a semi-communal life in Stamford Hill ; among them was Hilary Creek. Mendleson and Creek were supporting a group which had squatted empty flats in Arbour Square in Stepney. She became a friend of Jim Greenfield after meeting him on leaving

1064-468: Was convicted by a 10–2 majority of conspiracy to cause explosions. She was also found guilty of the possession charges, but not guilty of attempting to cause an explosion in Manchester. The jury foreman asked for "leniency or clemency" for the defendants, which the Judge took into account by reducing the overall sentence by five years. Mendleson was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. While being taken down to

1102-612: Was convicted of conspiracy to cause explosions as part of The Angry Brigade , a ruling she insisted was unjust. After her release she raised a family, resumed her education and devoted her life to art and to poetry. She grew somewhat isolated from the rest of society, but her friends saw to it that some of her work was published. Mendleson was the daughter of Maurice Mendleson, a market trader from Stockport in Cheshire. According to Peter Riley, writing in The Guardian , her father

1140-468: Was followed by Bernache nonnette in 1995; a review of the latter in Angel Exhaust magazine saw it as a critique of left-wing politics since 1970 for seeing the population it hopes to serve as a single group rather than as millions of individual people, a critique which the reviewer Andrew Duncan linked to the poet's own history. 1997 saw the appearance of Tondo Aquatique , which had a theme of

1178-643: Was from a "working class Jewish " background, fought on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War , and was a Labour councillor in Stockport; the Mendleson family was later described by Des Wilson as "politically radical". Mendleson was educated at Stockport High School for Girls , where she became Head Girl . She was reported to have been a "brilliant and unruly pupil". In addition Mendleson fostered her artistic ability through attending

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1216-506: Was ill throughout much of the trial; on occasion she was too ill to take part at all and the trial had to be halted. She was granted bail during a four-week summer adjournment of the trial, spending the time in Wales. The most important part of the trial for Mendleson was her final speech in her own defence, which took a day and a half of court time. She urged the jury to understand her political work and lifestyle, which would help them see why

1254-472: Was no evidence of any plots or conspiracies. Mendleson said that she understood the feelings behind those who would make bomb attacks on cabinet ministers but doing so "isn't going to get rid of the capitalist system, because there is always somebody to step into his place unless the situation and conditions are right". In conclusion she stressed that those in dock "are working together for a happier and more peaceful world". Notwithstanding her oratory, Mendleson

1292-663: Was printed in the Police Gazette as a wanted person. People arrested in a police raid in Wivenhoe in April 1971 were shown pictures of Mendleson and asked if they recognised her. Needing a base to produce Strike , the group decided to rent a flat in London. On 2 July 1971, John Barker and Hilary Creek posing as a married couple, and Mendleson using the name 'Nancy Pye', rented the top floor flat at 359 Amhurst Road in Stoke Newington . One of Mendleson's main concerns

1330-463: Was remanded in custody at Holloway Prison and was eventually charged with possession of the armaments and conspiracy to cause explosions. Mendleson's fingerprints were found on a copy of Rolling Stone magazine used to wrap a bomb planted at the Italian consulate in Manchester, and she was also charged with attempting to cause this explosion. Mendleson found prison life extremely stressful and at

1368-556: Was severely damaged, no-one was killed or injured. Anna Mendelssohn Anna Mendelssohn (born Anna Mendleson , 1948 – 15 November 2009), who wrote under the name Grace Lake , was a British writer, poet and political activist. She came from a left-wing political family, was inspired by the Paris student risings in May 1968, and became a political radical in Britain. Mendelsohn

1406-692: Was slightly injured. In the 1980s the Angry Brigade resurfaced as the Angry Brigade Resistance Movement, part of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement (IRSM). Jake Prescott, whose origins were in the mining community of Dunfermline , was arrested and tried in 1971. Melford Stevenson sentenced him to 15 years imprisonment (later reduced to 10), mostly spent in Category A high security prisons . Later he said he realised then that he "was

1444-534: Was that the group should continue to support the defence of Jake Prescott and Ian Purdie, who were charged with carrying out two bombings for The Angry Brigade anarchist group. The duplicating equipment at Amhurst Road was used to produce Angry Brigade Communiqué No. 11 published on 31 July 1971, and Mendleson drafted the Angry Brigade Moonlighter's Cell Communiqué which followed it. With regular police raids on people known to be supportive of

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