Expecting a sentence of 3 years, Sam spent this last free Sunday with his family to which I was invited to join. Laura, Alex Sam and I swam in the waves of the north sea before we sat down for a traditional Sunday dinner. A family, with the elephant in the room: the knowledge that one would be going away for a length of time.
Sam was tried for his part of the Just Stop Oil Tunnels Campaign. They took action in August 2022, demanding the UK government immediately halts all licensing and consents for new fossil fuel exploration and extraction.
March 2024 all 5 were found guilty with conspiracy to cause a public nuisance for occupying tunnels close to Grays Oil Terminal.
The last remaining legal defence of ‘belief in consent’ was on trial. The defence that a person honestly believes the owner of a property would have consented had they known the full circumstances of climate change has been used successfully over the last year by protesters (Guardian). Due to the high number of recent acquittals by juries in these cases, the Attorney General had asked the Court of Appeal to undertake a review. The appeal court said the “beliefs and motivation” of a defendant do not constitute lawful excuse for causing damage to a property. Now defendants in court will have no legal defence and will be prevented from explaining their motivations to a jury of their peers. This opportunity to defend themselves in court, has been causing alarm both nationally and internationally.
A five year sentence recently delivered to Roger Hallam, for planning an action over a zoom call, was an unexpected shocking long sentence. Greenpeace UK’s programme director, Amy Cameron, said: “What sort of country locks people away for yearsfor planning a peaceful demonstration, let alone for talking about it on a Zoom call? We’re giving a free hand to the polluting elite robbing us of a habitable planet while jailing those who’re trying to stop them – it makes no sense.
Kalikellett 