Just Stop Oil pair jailed for scaling bridge and causing traffic chaos on M25 Dartford Crossing
Just Stop Oil protesters who scaled a bridge on the Dartford Crossing, causing gridlock when police closed the bridge to traffic, have been jailed.
Morgan Trowland, 40, has been sentenced to three years in prison, while 34-year-old Marcus Decker has been sentenced to 2 years and 7 months in prison.
Gasps and jaws dropped from Just Stop Oil Protestors in court as the sentence was handed down.
Both need to serve half, and the rest on licence in the community.
The pair used ropes and other climbing equipment to shuffle up the cables of the bridge, unfurling a "giant Just Stop Oil banner", prosecutor Adam King had told the court.
The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links the M25 in Essex and Kent, was closed from 4am on October 17 2022 to 9pm the following day.
Watch as one of the protestors is recorded singing before he is arrested
The pair was found guilty of causing a public nuisance, following more than two hours of deliberations at a trial at Basildon Crown Court on 4 April.
The pair has "spent 5 months and 24 days in custody, which is approximately equivalent to an 11-month sentence", the prosecution told the court on Friday (21 April).
Sentencing the pair, Judge Shane Collery KC said: "You have to be punished for the chaos you caused and to deter others from copying you."
He added: "No part of my task today is to talk about merits of your protest. My task is to apply the law.
"You knew you were not going to change government policy that day. You wanted maximum publicity."
The judge said that Trowland, who has six previous convictions relating to protests, had a "leading role", while Decker had one previous conviction relating to a protest.
The judge said that the pair "plainly believed you knew better than everyone else", adding: "In short, to hell with everyone else."
"By your actions you caused this very important road to be closed for 40 hours," the judge said, noting that the disruption affected "many tens of thousands, some very significantly".
Detective Chief Inspector Louise Metcalfe, who oversaw the police investigation, said: “Trowland and Decker’s actions were completely unacceptable. They were dangerous and they were incredibly disruptive.
“We know they saw their actions as protest – they were not. They caused danger and disruption to many.
“Thankfully, our specially trained officers were able bring the incident to a safe conclusion.”