A retired couple arrested for illegal picketing at a fracking protest condemned the case yesterday as a “waste of public money” after all charges were dropped.

Artist Val Mager, 64, and her 63-year-old husband Jon, a former East Riding council director of education, attended the peaceful protest at Crawberry Hill, East Yorkshire, on May 15.

The site has been earmarked for hydraulic fracturing (fracking), where chemicals are pumped into underground shale to release gas.

Mr Mager sat down to meditate at the demo while Ms Mager spoke calmly with police.

They were arrested and charged under the Trade Union Act for “causing intimidation and annoyance” and imprisoned for 10 hours.

But on Friday the Crown Prosecution Service dropped all charges citing “lack of evidence.”

“Anyone who has watched the video of our arrest will agree that we did not behave in a violent or intimidating way,” the couple said in a statement.

“The charges against us were wrong, and it was a waste of public money to have allowed the matter to proceed this far.

“When we complained about being kept in police cells for 10 hours we were told this was necessary to gather evidence. The police had a video of the arrest. The only conclusion is that we were arrested to stop us supporting the campaign against fracking by the use of bail conditions.”

Anti-fracking campaigners set up a camp nearby on May 13 and have been protesting regularly at the site.

Opponents say the process poses enormous environmental hazards, including earthquakes and pollution of water sources.