Six Just Stop Oil supporters were sentenced today by Judge Collery at Basildon Crown Court for their involvement in climbing gantries over the M25 motorway in November 2022. The demonstrators were demanding the UK government halt all licensing and consents for new fossil fuel exploration and extraction.
The activists, Daniel Johnson (25), Paul Bell (24), Theresa Higginson (26), Gaie Delap (77), Paul Sousek (73), and George Simonson (24), pleaded guilty in April to the offence of ‘causing a public nuisance’, a statutory offence under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.
Gaie Delap and Paul Sousek each received 20-month sentences, while Paul Bell was sentenced to 22 months. George Simonson and Theresa Higginson each received two-year sentences. Daniel Johnson received a 21-month suspended sentence for 24 months, along with 200 hours of unpaid work and £750 in costs.
They join Phoebe Plummer and Jane Touil, who were imprisoned yesterday. Currently, 21 people are imprisoned in the UK for demanding government action on the threat of climate breakdown.
In January, Michel Forst, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders, released a statement severely criticizing the UK Government’s increasingly draconian treatment of peaceful climate activists. He highlighted the use of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, noting:
“I learned that, in the UK, peaceful protesters are being prosecuted and convicted under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, for the criminal offence of ‘public nuisance’, which is punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment. It is important to highlight that, prior to these legislative developments, it had been almost unheard of since the 1930s for members of the public to be imprisoned for peaceful protest in the UK. I am therefore seriously concerned by these regressive new laws.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak boasted that this legislation had been drafted, in part, by the Policy Exchange think tank. In 2021, it was revealed that Policy Exchange’s US wing, the ‘American Friends of Policy Exchange’, received $30,000 (roughly £23,700) from oil and gas giant ExxonMobil in 2017.
Speaking before sentencing today, Paul Sousek stated:
“‘No New Oil’ was the demand from Just Stop Oil right from the start. Now most political parties agree and it has become government policy. How come we are being jailed for pushing for what is now government policy? Kafka couldn’t make it up!”
George Simonson added:
“I climbed a gantry on the M25 almost two years ago because I want to have a future. As a young person, I’ve got my whole life ahead of me. What is that life going to be like? How many people am I going to witness die because of our government’s inaction? I realized the people in charge are willing to kill people for fossil fuel extraction. I couldn’t just stand by and let them do this.”
Gaie Delap expressed remorse for the disruption caused but emphasized the necessity of their actions:
“I’ve had to read the evidence of people who were stuck in our traffic, it hurts me. I’m sorry I had to do this. But we really have no other option. They didn’t listen to the scientists, they didn’t listen to their constituents, so we had to cause disruption in order to communicate the seriousness of humanity’s predicament.”
In April, Paul Bell stated:
“I have taken action in a desperate attempt to protect those I love and everyone else from the alarming future that is being left for young people like me. In my PhD, I spend my time studying the impacts of the climate crisis, surrounded by some of the world’s top climate scientists. Every day I learn more about this crisis and every day my heart breaks because I understand how vast the gap is between a safe future and the nightmare future we are heading towards. Scientists must sound the alarm, we cannot continue quietly letting the UK government twist our words and ignore our warnings. As a climate scientist, I am hugely worried about the brutal climate disaster that is coming down the line. As a young person, I feel betrayed and angry. The government is burning our future in a dumpster fire of new oil and gas projects, they must be held to account for this monstrous act of genocide.”
In July, five Just Stop Oil supporters received 4-5 year prison sentences for ‘Conspiracy to cause Public Nuisance’ related to the M25 motorway disruption in November 2022. These were the longest sentences ever handed down for nonviolent direct action in the UK. During that trial, Judge Hehir denied the defendants all defenses in law and barred any mention of the climate crisis, preventing them from testifying about their reasons for taking action and repeatedly ordering their arrests for insisting on fulfilling their oath to tell the whole truth.
The special rapporteur’s office released a statement on June 24 detailing his views regarding the criminal prosecution of Daniel Shaw in the Whole Truth Five trial. The statement can be read here.
Until leaders act to protect us, Just Stop Oil supporters will continue to take the proportional action necessary to generate political pressure.
