Five Just Stop Oil protesters jailed for causing traffic disruption on M25

Cars held up on the M25 during a Just Stop Oil protest in November 2022. Credit: PA.

Five Just Stop Oil activists have been jailed for their roles in a protest which closed the M25.

The protesters climbed gantries on the motorway on 9 November 2022, with the intention to "create mass disruption", according to Judge Shane Collery KC at Basildon Crown Court.

It was part of a five-day protest alongside COP27, with Just Stop Oil calling for the government to halt all new oil and gas licences and consents.

The judge said “many people suffered hours of delay” and told the defendants: “Your actions were disproportionate to your aims."

During the protest, an Essex police officer was injured in a collision with two lorries while implementing a rolling roadblock, and the judge said it was "fortunate more accidents did not occur”.

The defendants - George Simonson, 24, from Leeds; Theresa Higginson, 26, from Bedfordshire; Paul Bell, 24, from Exeter; Gaie Delap, 77, from Bristol; and Paul Sousek, 73, from Cornwall - all pleaded guilty to causing a public nuisance at an earlier hearing.

Gasps were heard at the beginning of the sentencing when the judge revealed that the five would face immediate terms of imprisonment.

Simonson and Higginson received the highest sentences and will each spend two years in prison.

Bell was jailed for one year and 10 months. He waved and blew kisses as he was led to the cells.

Delap and Sousek were both sentenced to one year and eight months in jail, with the judge telling 77-year-old Belap: “Age, I regret, has not brought wisdom."

The judge said: "It’s easy to be blasé and dismissive when it’s not your life that’s being disrupted."

He told the defendants: “You are all intelligent people and more than capable of working out why you’re in this position and what you need to do to avoid it."

Fellow Just Stop Oil supporters gathered outside, clapping and cheering, as a prison van containing Simonson, Higginson, Bell, Delap and Sousek left the court.

They will join five other Just Stop Oil activists, who were jailed for between four and five years in July for organising the protests.

Five out of the six defendants received prison sentences. Credit: Just Stop Oil.

A sixth defendant, Daniel Johnson, 25, from Scotland, was spared jail.

The judge told him: “I’m prepared to accept the remorse expressed as genuine”.

He described Johnson as the “only defendant with a realistic prospect of rehabilitation”.

He sentenced Johnson to 21 months in prison suspended for 24 months, and ordered that he complete 200 hours of unpaid work and pay £750 in costs.

The judge also ordered that the activists’ climbing equipment, locks and banners be confiscated.

The judge described the protest as described the protest as “perhaps a curious way of seeking to influence the public opinion”. Credit: Just Stop Oil/PA.

Francesca Cociani, the solicitor who represents Delap, Bell, Johnson and Higginson, said afterwards: “[The] decision to imprison peaceful protesters is a grave injustice and does not align with the UK’s professed values.

“Peaceful protest is a fundamental right and a vital tool for enacting positive societal change.

“Increasingly lengthy prison terms for these types of individuals were previously unseen and it sends a disturbing message in our liberal democracy.

“We are exploring our options, including the possibility of an appeal, to challenge this decision and to defend the fundamental right to peaceful protest.”

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