A lengthy jail sentence handed to the Just Stop Oil cofounder Roger Hallam was “manifestly excessive”, the country’s most senior judge has said, as she reduced his and five other climate protesters’ sentences on appeal.
Hallam was originally jailed for five years for conspiring to disrupt traffic by having protesters climb on to gantries over the M25 for four successive days in 2022. His sentence was reduced to four years.
Daniel Shaw, Louise Lancaster, Lucia Whittaker De Abreu and Cressida Gethin originally received four-year jail terms for their involvement in the same protest. Shaw’s and Lancaster’s sentences were reduced to three years, while Whittaker De Abreu’s and Gethin’s sentences were reduced to 30 months.
Gaie Delap, previously jailed for 20 months for her role in the protests on the M25, had her sentence reduced to 18 months.
The other 10 protesters who were part of the mass appeal, including Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland, who were jailed for two years and 20 months respectively for throwing paint on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting at the National Gallery, had their claims denied. Lawyers said they were considering an appeal to the supreme court.
In a two-day hearing last month, the activists, who were jailed for taking part in various disruptive protests in 2022, argued that their trial judges had erred by failing to offer the usual leniency afforded to acts of civil disobedience on conscientious grounds.
In a written judgment handed down after announcing the outcome, Lady Justice Carr, the lady chief justice, said the judge who originally jailed Hallam “was entirely justified in taking [a] serious view of [his] offending”.
“However, we consider a sentence of five years’ imprisonment in Mr Hallam’s case to be manifestly excessive,” she added. Shaw’s and Lancaster’s sentences were reduced by the same amount to maintain the differential between them and Hallam.
Whittaker de Abreu’s sentence was reduced in light of her good behaviour since her arrest for her part in the conspiracy, while in the case of Gethin, Carr said: “We accept her submission that [her] immaturity lowered her culpability.”
The lawyer who represented many of the protesters, Raj Chada, the head of criminal defence at Hodge Jones & Allen, said: “The small reduction in the case of Roger Hallam recognises the extraordinarily excessive sentences that continue to be given out to protesters in England. It is, however, extremely disappointing that many of the other sentences were upheld.
“No country in Europe gives such draconian sentences for peaceful protests, proving we are out of kilter with the rest of the civilised world. We are reviewing the judgment and considering an appeal to the supreme court.”
In spite of the reductions, activists condemned the outcome, with more than 30 standing up in court, turning their backs on the judges and removing their jackets to reveal T-shirts saying “corruption in court”. In a statement, Just Stop Oil said the courts had been “captured, lock, stock and barrel by the powerful [and] the ultra wealthy”, adding: “These judges would be sending those who hid Anne Frank to the cattle trucks while hiding behind ‘the rule of law’.”
But the environmental justice organisations Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace UK, which had supported the appellants’ case, described the partial victory as “an important win”, which “goes some way to improving the law for those sounding the alarm about the climate and nature crises”. But they called on the government to repeal the anti-protest legislation passed in recent years, under which some of the convictions were made.
“Friends of the Earth is pleased that the court of appeal has reduced at least some of the climate activists’ sentences,” said Katie de Kauwe, a senior lawyer at Friends of the Earth. “We welcome the point of principle in today’s ruling that sentencing for peaceful protest needs to factor in both the defendant’s conscientious motivation, and protections afforded under the European convention on human rights. This is a positive development for the environmental movement as a whole, and for all peaceful movements holding the government to account.
Areeba Hamid, a co-executive director at Greenpeace UK, said: “This appeal has led to some important clarifications and a recognition that the trial judge was mistaken in denying the protesters the protection of certain legal rights and in discounting the conscientious nature of their motivations. But this ruling will not halt, let alone reverse, the UK’s slide towards authoritarianism that began under the last government but is being enthusiastically embraced by this one.”
