A VETERAN peace campaigner spent a night in a police cell after getting too close to one of the American bases she wants to see closed down.

Lindis Percy, 59, was arrested at the US base at Menwith Hill, near Harrogate, on Sunday night and held until she appeared before the town's magistrates yesterday.

She admitted breaking bail conditions imposed by Banbury magistrates, where she is due to face charges next month of stealing a Stars and Stripes flag from another US base.

Peter Scott, prosecuting, said bail had been allowed on condition Percy did not go within 25 metres of any military establishment in England and Wales.

Percy, of Bellfield Avenue, Holderness Road, Hull, had been at the main gate to Menwith Hill and told Ministry of Defence police of her bail conditions at which point she was arrested.

For Percy, Mohammed Rafiq argued that the blanket ban covering all American bases was unreasonable and unduly restrictive, but court chairwoman Cecily Horton ordered it to remain in force.

She did vary the terms to allow Percy to attend monthly meetings organised by the Quakers at both Menwith Hill and Fylingdales, on the North York Moors