Grandmothers Helen John, 68, and Sylvia Boyes, 62, were due to answer bail at Harrogate police station yesterday in connection with offences they are alleged to have committed at the United States signals intelligence station at Menwith Hill.

They were arrested under a little-known section of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, which came into force last month.
But yesterday a spokes-man for the Ministry of Defence Police said: "The two women in their 60s arrested at RAF Menwith Hill on April 1 on suspicion of criminal trespass and going equipped were due to answer bail today. But the case is still being considered so their bail has been extended until May 31."

Mrs John travels from her home in Otley to maintain the Menwith Hill peace camp in a layby about a mile from the main entrance to the base, west of Harrogate. She and Mrs Boyes, of Keighley, are long-term peace campaigners. They became the first people to be arrested under the Government's latest anti-terror legislation.

Civil liberties groups claim the section of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act will crimin-alise free speech and undermine the right to peaceful demonstration. Under the new law, protesters who breach security at any of 10 military bases across Britain, including Menwith Hill and Fylingdales Early Warning Station on the North York Moors, will be viewed as potential terrorists and face up to a year in prison or a £5,000 fine.