PEACE campaigners demonstrated in Leeds yesterday in solidarity with Trident whistleblower William McNeilly.

Able Seaman McNeilly, who is currently in military custody in Scotland, handed himself in on Monday night after publishing an 18-page dossier exposing safety and security lapses and describing the Trident nuclear missile system as “a disaster waiting to happen.”

A second whistleblower, former navy communications and information technology specialist Euan Bryson, has since spoken out to say that he too witnessed important security lapses.

Yesterday, demonstrators in Leeds collected signatures on a petition urging Prime Minister David Cameron to pardon Able Seaman McNeilly for his actions, arguing that they were in the public interest.

Adam Stacey, a student, said: “Right from the start of the nuclear weapons programme, there have been a series of near-misses and lucky escapes.

“But our luck can’t hold out forever, and one serious blunder in relation to nuclear weapons could be absolutely catastrophic. The only real way to keep us all safe is to decommission Trident altogether.”

Fellow demonstrator Dominic Linley said: “Trident isn’t just a threat to Britain’s supposed enemies but a genuine threat to everyone in this country — not just by making us into an aggressor nation and therefore a target, but through these sorts of accidents and security lapses.

“We should not be even considering replacing such a dangerous and immoral weapon system, especially one so expensive and useless.”

The demonstration was organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’s Yorkshire region.