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Six climate protesters, including one of the founders of Just Stop Oil, have had their prison sentences reduced after the Court of Appeal said their right to freedom of expression should have been considered.
A rare mass appeal in January, involving 16 members of the climate protest group Just Stop Oil, argued their jail terms of a combined 41 years were excessive and breached international human rights.
The 16 sentences, which related to four separate cases, were handed down between July and September last year.
Roger Hallam, 58, founder of Extinction Rebellion and JSO, had his jail term reduced from five years to four for taking part in a Zoom call to plan a protest on the M25 motorway that brought the London ring road to a standstill over four days.
In her ruling, Lady Justice Carr said Hallam’s original sentence was “manifestly excessive”. She added that “attention must be paid to conscientious motivation and Articles 10 and 11” of the European Convention on Human Rights to protect freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and association.
His co-defendants, Cressida Gethin and Lucia Whittaker De Abreu, had their sentences reduced from four years to 30 months, while Louise Lancaster and Daniel Shaw had their sentences reduced from four years to three years.
The Court of Appeal reduced the sentence of Gaie Delap, who had been jailed in a separate case for climbing on M25 gantries, from 20 months to 18 months.
The appeals of 10 other protesters were dismissed, including Phoebe Plummer who threw soup on Vincent van Gogh’s sunflower painting.
About 30 supporters held a silent protest in the court as those appeals were dismissed, standing with their backs to the judge wearing white T-shirts that said “Corruption in Court”.
Outside the court, a further peaceful protest took place, with Amy Pritchard, who was jailed last year for cracking a window at JPMorgan Chase’s office in London as part of a climate protest, reading a statement from 13 of the 16 appellants.
“We can never give up. The state-sponsored assault on our living planet gives us no choice,” she said on their behalf.
Raj Chada, head of criminal defence at Hodge Jones & Allen, who represented the protesters, said the small reduction in Hallam’s jail term “recognises the extraordinarily excessive sentences that continue to be given out to protesters in England”.
But he added that it was “extremely disappointing” that many of the other sentences were upheld, and said an appeal to the Supreme Court was being considered.
“No country in Europe gives such draconian sentences for peaceful protests, proving we are out of kilter with the rest of the civilised world,” he said.
While the UK has not traditionally jailed non-violent environmental activists, this has changed in recent years as climate protests expanded and became increasingly disruptive.
The previous government attempted to clamp down on protests through the introduction of new laws, including the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act of 2022 and the Public Order Act of 2023.
