Police have emerged from the trial of animal rights protesters sadly discredited.
Their case was flawed from the start.
It was based on flimsy evidence that the 14 defendants had broken the law when they staged a demonstration in Oxford.
District judge Deborah Wright found two of them guilty of obstructing and assaulting police, but appeared to have little hesitation in acquitting them all of public order offences.
What little substance the police case had was destroyed by private, injudicious comments by officers.
The conversations suggested that police had little sympathy with the demonstrators' cause and were determined to get them, one way or another.
It is hardly surprising that most of the prosecution collapsed.
It is often difficult to draw the line between peaceful and unlawful protest, but in this case, the police not only got it badly wrong but acted in a totally unprofessional manner.
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