Courts are set to sentence 19 Just Stop Oil supporters this May

Throughout May, courts will sentence 19 Just Stop Oil supporters for their planning of and participation in protests calling for a faster transition away from fossil fuels. All of them could face years in prison if previous sentencings are anything to go by.

Between them, they have already spent 91 months in prison on remand for these charges, an equivalent of 7 years and 7 months. This is despite the fact that courts have handed not a single one of them a custodial sentence yet.

Just Stop Oil: 19 supporters facing sentencing in May for peaceful protests

The 19 Just Stop Oil supporters will attend the following sentencing hearings:

• M25 Gantry Conspiracy: Two separate trial groups will be sentenced for planning the climbing of gantries on the M25 in 2022. 9 May in Southwark Crown Court: Abigail Percy-Ratcliffe (25), Ian Bates (65). 15 May in Southwark Crown Court: Phoebe Plummer (24), David Mann (53).
• M25 Gantry Climbing: One group will be sentenced for climbing gantries on the M25 in 2022. 9 May in Southwark Crown Court: Amy-Rose Friel O’Donnell (22), anonymous.
• Heathrow Airport Conspiracy: One group will be sentenced for a conspiracy to cause disruption at Heathrow Airport. 16 May in Isleworth Crown Court: Hannah Schafer (61), Rosa Hicks (29), Sally Davidson (37), Luke Elson (32), William Goldring (27), Sean O’Callaghan (30), Luke Watson (35), Rory Wilson (25), Adam Beard (56).</li>
• Manchester Airport Conspiracy: One group will be sentenced for a conspiracy to cause disruption at Manchester Airport. 23 May in Minshull Crown Court: Margaret Reid (54), Indigo Rumbelow (31), Ella Ward (22), Daniel Knorr (23).

These sentencing hearings will be among the first to take place since Just Stop Oil hung up the high vis in March.

Lord Walney effect: jail sentences for peaceful protest

Judges have previously argued that high sentences were required to deter others from taking similar action with Just Stop Oil. However, it is now unclear who this would deterred – and from what action – in the group’s absence.

Courts will hand the 19 defendants sentences for taking entirely nonviolent actions to demand that the government accelerate their transition away from fossil fuels. In the cases of the airport conspiracies, activists didn’t even carry out the planned actions.

All 19 were convicted in the months after the disgraced ‘Lord’ Walney, the paid oil and arms industry lobbyist, called for groups such as Just Stop Oil and Palestine Action, who oppose his clients’ interests, to be silenced and jailed. Prior to Lord Walney’s report in May 2024, jail sentences for peaceful protest in Britain remained extremely unusual.

Courts are carrying out the sentencings within the wider context of a prison overcrowding crisis. Prisons are releasing thousands of inmates early to avoid catastrophic prison conditions. Currently, 31 supporters of Just Stop Oil, Palestine Action, and HS2 Rebellion find themselves in UK prisons. The UN has previously described the excessive sentencing of UK protesters as ‘not acceptable in a democracy’.

M25 Gantry Conspiracy & Climbing

The charges against the M25 Gantry Conspiracy defendants are the same as those that led to courts handing down the unprecedented custodial sentences to the Whole Truth Five in 2024.

On 7 March, the Court of Appeal ruled that those sentences were “manifestly excessive”. It reduced them to three to four years. It suggested that treating earlier Just Stop Oil cases as a precedent for sentencing risked “undesirable and unwarranted sentence inflation”.

These sentencing hearings will show what this High Court ruling means for future protest cases.

Defendants include 24-year-old Phoebe Plummer. Plummer previously received a two-year sentence for throwing soup at the glass covering Van Gogh’s Sunflowers.

Previous climbers of gantries received custodial sentences of up to two years.

Heathrow Airport and Just Stop Oil

Three of the nine defendants in the Heathrow Airport case have been in prison on remand since July 2024.

They are now potentially facing retrial after evidence emerged that jurors engaged in jury misconduct, making their guilty verdicts manifestly unsafe. Their judge also implied that the existence of a climate emergency is a matter of opinion. This provides further grounds for appeal.

However, the sentencing hearing of the Heathrow 9 will proceed despite the validity of their convictions being seriously called into question.

Manchester Airport

The four defendants in the Manchester Airport case have been held on remand since August 2024. Noah Crane (20), who spent half a year on remand on the basis of allegedly buying phones for fellow protesters, joined them during their trial. His jury unanimously found him not guilty.

The defendants include Indigo Rumbelow (31), one of the co-founders of Just Stop Oil.

Defend Our Juries spokesperson Tim Crosland said:

Labour is cutting corners wherever you look, from winter fuel payments to pensioners to disability benefits to flood protection. And yet, they somehow find the funding to imprison 19 peaceful climate protesters for almost eight years between them before they have even been sentenced. We are dreading seeing how many years will be added on top of that now that the days of their sentencing hearings have finally arrived. The courts of this country are serving the interests of the fossil fuel industry, not the interests of ordinary people who are scrambling to get by.

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