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A group of Just Stop Oil (JSO) protesters have been spared jail terms at their sentencing hearing at Isleworth Crown Court.
The nine activists were convicted of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance after police stopped them from causing ‘unprecedented disruption’ at Heathrow Airport on July 24 last year.
The defendants had either already served the time they were sentenced to or were handed suspended sentences.
Judge Hannah Duncan said: ‘No breach of the perimeter fence occurred. No disruption at all occurred. No actual harm was caused.’
Judge Hannah Duncan told the defendants they treated their trial as an ‘extension of the protest’, adding: ‘A court room is not a street or a town square, and it is run at considerable cost.
‘It’s where allegations of crimes are tried, where often the most vulnerable people in society find themselves as defendants or as witnesses.
‘Victims of crime sadly have to wait a long time for their cases to be heard, to receive justice for the wrongs that have been done to them before they can move on.
‘There are women and children who have been abused, sexually assaulted or raped who are waiting for court rooms. You used one for seven weeks. Some of you dragging it out as much as you could at every opportunity, lying about your actions and intentions that day all to get more publicity.
A group of Just Stop Oil (JSO) protesters have been spared jail terms at their sentencing hearing at Isleworth Crown Court (File image of protesters outside Downing Street)
‘It does not add a single day to your sentence but it demonstrates your lack of remorse until now and it exposes the lie of accountability.’
It was clear that airports were going to be the target for climate protesters in 2024, Judge Hannah Duncan said in her sentencing remarks.
She said meetings and recruitment drives took place.
‘The phrase ‘unprecedented disruption’ featured in the promotion and explanation for this campaign. The assertion by some of you during the trial that this is nothing but hyperbole and only minor disruption was the aim is dishonest and disingenuous,’ the judge said.
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