A test prosecution is to be brought against a Ramsbottom teenager and 19 other protesters who were charged over the recent sit-in protest at a London department store.

A total of 138 people were charged with criminal offences following the demonstration against alleged tax avoidance by the owners of the world famous Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly on March 26.

The defendants were due to appear in batches of 20 before the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court last week, but the Crown Prosecution Service is, instead, to pursue a small number of the protesters next month to see whether it can secure guilty verdicts over the sit-in before going ahead with follow-up trials.

Edmund Hall, prosecuting, told the court that 123 of the 138 defendants were now represented by solicitors, and that arrest warrants may be needed to force some to turn up for trial.

The first group of 20 protesters, who include a 17-year-old from Ramsbottom, are mostly accused of aggravated trespass.

If convicted, they would each face a maximum of three months in jail or a £2,500 fine.

The sit-in was organised by campaign group UK Uncut and coincided with protests against government spending cuts that took place elsewhere in London on the same day