Judges back terror stop and searches

Police use of stop-andsearch powers under anti-terrorism laws during a demonstration at an arms fair was legal, three top judges ruled today.

But the judges, headed by Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice, called on the Met Police to "review very carefully" how the powers were used as the briefing given to officers was "poor". The Court of Appeal ruling came in a challenge by student Kevin Gillan, 26, and freelance photo-journalist Pennie Quinton, 32.

Both were stopped and searched on the way to Europe's largest arms fair at the ExCel Centre in Docklands last September. The High Court rejected the protesters' challenge to a "rolling programme" of London-wide authorisations under the Terrorism Act for officers to stop the public.

Today Lord Woolf said: "The disadvantage of the intrusion is outweighed by the advantage from the possibility of a terrorist attack being foiled."