VETERAN peace campaigners from Stroud upheld their beliefs in court after refusing to fill in the national census.

Pacifists Roger Franklin, 83, from Horsley, and mayor of Stroud John Marjoram, 72, who lives in the town, appeared separately before magistrates in Bristol yesterday.

Each was accused of refusing to answer a question on the census last year.

A dozen, mostly Quaker, supporters listened as Franklin, who declined to enter a plea, was proved guilty by crown prosecutor Alison Harris.

Non-compliance officers from the Office for National Statistics had visited Franklin and were told he'd completed a form but not sent it, Mrs Harris said.

Franklin, of Tickmorend "free state", handed an open letter to the bench explaining his stance.

The letter, also issued to The Citizen, told magistrates: "I am rather well practiced in... civil disobedience."

Franklin also wrote that he'd refused the census on moral grounds because it was carried out by "a war machine corporation (merchant of death) Lockheed Martin."

Franklin was fined £360, ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.

He was given 28 days to pay and warned that failure to do so could lead to a prison sentence.

"Yes, it has happened before," Franklin told the hearing.

He then said outside court afterwards that he wouldn't pay.

Marjoram's not guilty plea was adjourned until a trial on May 31.

A Quaker and self-proclaimed conscientious objector, he said outside court: "I intend to take issue with conflicts between the 1920 Census Act and European human rights legislation."

The defendants were the only two among eight summoned to the court for the same offence who appeared in person.

Stance

Both men, and dozens of others around Britain, have taken their stance against the census because defence firm Lockheed Martin won the £150million contact to run it.

As the hearing in Bristol opened, Mrs Harris made clear the cases were being dealt with centrally by agreement between the Crown Prosecution Service, Magistrates' Courts Association and Office for National Statistics.

The agreement was so an officer from the Office for National Statistics could be present so that anyone who opted to finally fill in a form could have proceedings withdrawn, Mrs Harris said.