by Five supporters of the Just Stop Oil climate campaign who conspired to cause traffic jams on London’s motorway have been given long prison terms by a judge who told them they had “crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic”.
Roger Hallam, Daniel Shaw, Louise Lancaster, Lucia Whittaker De Abreu and Cressida Gethin were found guilty last week of conspiracy to cause public nuisance for coordinating direct action protests on the M25 over four days in November 2022.
Hallam was sentenced to five years on Thursday, while the other four were sentenced to four years.
The sentences are thought to be the longest even in the UK for non-violent protest, more than those given to Just Stop Oil protesters Morgan Trowland (three years) and Marcus Decker (two years and seven months) for scaling the Dartford crossing. .
All five spoke on a Zoom call trying to recruit potential volunteers for the actions, which involved activists climbing bridges at strategic points on London’s orbital motorway.
On the call, Hallam said they intended to cause “the biggest disruption in modern British history” in an attempt to force the government to meet Just Stop Oil’s main demand, an end to exploration new oil and gas in the North Sea.
Sentencing each of the defendants at Southwark crown court, judge Christopher Hehir said: “The convictions of all five of you are very serious indeed and long custodial sentences must follow.”
Hehir acknowledged that there was a scientific and social consensus that man-made climate collapse was occurring and that action should be taken to avoid it. “I admit that at least some of the concerns that motivate you are shared, at least to some extent,” he said.
“But the reality is that each of you has crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fan. You are appointed as the sole arbiters of what should be done about climate change, not bound by the principles of democracy or the rule of law.
“And your fanaticism leaves you with no regard for the rights of your fellow citizens. You have taken it upon yourself to decide that your fellow citizens must suffer interference and injury, and the amount of interference and injury they must suffer, simply so that you can parade your views.”
Although all the defendants ended the trial representing themselves, three of them – Hallam, Shaw and Whittaker De Abreu – instructed counsel to speak for them in mitigation.
Not all lawyers tried to convince the judge that long sentences could be avoided. Francesca Cociani, for Shaw, said the likelihood of him re-offending was reduced because the new Labor government essentially met Just Stop Oil’s main demand by ending North Sea oil and gas exploration.
Gethin, who offered her own comments in mitigation, said: “I would like to remind the court once again that my reasons for taking action were not based on belief or opinion. The Earth’s life support systems are breaking down due to human activities, whether we believe it or not.
“These are not beliefs or opinions and it is very understandable to feel strongly that this is wrong, for an argument. I deeply regret that this action was necessary … I affirm that it was necessary and I stand by the actions I took as the most effective option available to me.”
Supporters of the defendants expressed anger at the sentences, which came after a two-week trial in which the judge denied them any legal protection for causing a public nuisance.
Hehir ruled that the jury should not have included evidence of climate failure, evidence that the defendants sought to point to as the main motivation for their actions, and which they said gave them a reasonable excuse for them.
Related: Contempt, gagging and UN intervention: inside the UK’s wildest climate trial
Michel Forst, the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders, who attended part of the trial, issued a statement at the end of the trial.
“Today is a dark day for peaceful environmental protest” in the UK, he said. “This sentence should shock the conscience of any member of the public. It should also alert all of us to the state of civil rights and liberties in the UK.
“Rulings such as today set a very dangerous precedent, not only for environmental protest but for any form of peaceful protest that may, at one point or another, not align with the interests of the government of the day .”
Greenpeace UK program director Amy Cameron said: “What kind of country prevents people for years from planning a peaceful demonstration, let alone talking about it on a Zoom call? We are giving a free hand to the corrupt elite who are robbing us of a habitable planet while imprisoning those who try to stop them – it makes no sense.
“These sentences are not a one-time anomaly but the culmination of years of repressive legislation, government rhetoric under siege and a concerted attack on the right of jurors to act according to their conscience. It’s part of the mess the Labor government has inherited from its predecessor and they need to sort it out by giving back the right to protest to people who are slowly being taken away from them.”
Separately on Thursday, three airports were granted high court injunctions against fossil fuel and environmental activists protesting at their sites. Leeds Bradford airport, London Luton airport and Newcastle international airport were given injunctions banning protesters from trespassing or causing a nuisance.
