by Lois Geal
Five environmental activists who organised protests that brought part of the M25 to a standstill over four days have been jailed. Forty-five Just Stop Oil protesters climbed gantries on the motorway in November 2022, forcing police to stop the traffic, in an attempt to cause gridlock across southern England.
JSO co-founder Hallam was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment while the other four defendants were each handed four years’ imprisonment.
The sentences, thought to be the longest sentences ever given for peaceful protest, exceed those handed to fellow Just Stop Oil protesters Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker, who scaled the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge on the Dartford Crossing in 2022, when they were jailed at Southend Crown Court last April.
They allegedly caused more than 50,000 hours of vehicle delay, affecting more than 700,000 vehicles, and left the M25 “compromised” for more than 120 hours.
The court heard the intention was to block most of the M25, preventing traffic from other roads from joining the motorway.
The action resulted in chaos on the M25 over four successive days, causing nearly 51,000 hours of driver delays, the court heard. The protests closed parts of the motorway in Kent, Surrey, Essex and Hertfordshire.
People missed flights, medical appointments and exams. Two lorries collide, and a police motorcyclist came off his bike during one of the protests on 9 November 2022 while trying to bring traffic to a halt in a “rolling road block”.
Prosecutors alleged the protests led to an economic cost of at least £765,000, while the cost to the Metropolitan Police was put at more than £1.1m.
Judge Hehir said the recording revealed the "intricate planning and the level of sophistication involved" in the protest action.
He said the defendants were "parading their political views" by appointing themselves as "sole arbiters of what should be done about climate change".
The law of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance, which was introduced in 2022, outlaws direct action that causes “serious harm” to a section of the public. This can include property damage, injury, serious distress, annoyance or inconvenience.
In April 2023, Morgan Trowland, who scaled the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, was jailed for three years for an offence under the new legislation.
Supporters of the defendants expressed outrage at the sentences, which came after a two-week trial in which the judge denied them any of the defences in law for causing a public nuisance.
Hehir ruled that the jury should not take into account evidence about climate breakdown, which the defendants wanted to point to as the key motivation behind their actions, and which they said provided them with a reasonable excuse for them.
Passing sentence on each of the defendants at Southwark crown court, the judge Christopher Hehir said: “The offending of all five of you is very serious indeed and lengthy custodial sentences must follow.”
Hehir admitted there was a scientific and social consensus that human-made climate breakdown was happening and action should be taken to avert it. “I acknowledge that at least some of the concerns motivating you are, at least to some extent, shared by many,” he said.
“And your fanaticism makes you entirely heedless of the rights of your fellow citizens. You have taken it upon yourselves to decide that your fellow citizens must suffer disruption and harm, and how much disruption and harm they must suffer, simply so that you may parade your views.”
Greenpeace UK’s programme director, Amy Cameron, said: “What sort of country locks people away for years for planning a peaceful demonstration, let alone for talking about it on a Zoom call? We’re giving a free hand to the polluting elite robbing us of a habitable planet while jailing those who’re trying to stop them – it makes no sense.
Edited by Emily Duff