Alfie Meadows: Anti-Fees demonstration student trial fails to reach decision

Jurors have failed to reach a conclusive decision on whether a student who was hit with a police baton during an anti-fees protest in London is guilty of violent disorder.

Alfie Meadows, 21, was accused of causing disorder during the student demonstration in 2010.  The demonstration was against university plans to triple tuition fees.

The trial, which lasted two days at Kingston crown court ended with the jury being inconclusive on whether Meadows was guilty of charges bought towards him.

The protest attracted over 10,000 people, for which the majority were deemed as "entirely lawful". However, Meadows from south London and four other male's actions were deemed to be unlawful.

Prosecutor , James Lofthouse said the demonstration was also accompanied by "serious disorder and violence" against police and property.

After becoming kettled in police circles, Meadows was struck with a baton leaving him hospitalised. A university student himself, Meadows was charged in April last year to which he pleaded not guilty.

The jury of seven men and five women found that the other men, Colin Goff, 24, of Beckenham, Vishnu Wood, 23, of Edgware, and Jack Loche, 18, of Basildon Essex, were not guilty of violent disorder. But jurors couldn't reach an agreement on whether to convict Jack King, 21 of Somerset for the same offence.

Meadows and King are now set to face another trail, although, it will not take place before October or November, the hearing was told.

There is no doubt that this trial has sparked the argument once again about whether the police were too violent during the student protests or that a small pocket of students were simply out to cause violence and disruption.