Nine Insulate Britain supporters were sentenced today at Reading Crown Court for taking part in Insulate Britain’s 2021 campaign of nonviolent civil resistance undertaken to demand the UK government insulate Britain’s cold and leaky homes. [1]
On March 7th 2024, seven of this cohort were found guilty by Judge Campbell of charges of Common Law Public Nuisance for blocking the A1306 in Essex. The remaining Gabriella Ditton, Tim Speers, and Stefania Morosi previously pleaded guilty to this charge. [2]
David Crawford, Janine Eagling, Louise Lancaster, Nicholas Onley, Rob Stuart, Nicholas Till, Biff Whipster, Gabriella Ditton, and Stefania Morosi were handed suspended sentences between 12 and 16 weeks by Judge Capbell. All but Nicholas Onley and Stephania Morosi were ordered to perform unpaid work, ranging from 40 to 100 hours. Each was ordered to pay costs, ranging from £400 to £1500.
Louise Lancaster, a 58 year old mother and retired teacher from Cambridge, was one of those sentenced today. She said:
“We are living in a system in free fall, a system which is broken. A politicised legal system protecting the status quo and the self-serving interests of oil corporations through a dying government. Prosecute the real criminals! Give young people a chance of a liveable future.”
Janine Eagling, 63, is a Former IT Project Manager and Cycling Instructor from Waltham Forest is another of those sentenced. She said:
“I am disappointed that the jury were not able to see beyond the relatively minor disruption that was caused on the road that day by our group and see the bigger picture of our motivation: the fervent desire to save the lives of those dying in cold homes and to bring down the nation’s carbon footprint. The climate breaking down is hitting the most vulnerable first. Climate justice is social justice.”
During the sentencing, Stefania Morosi read a poem in tribute to Xavier Trimmer-Gonzales, an Insulate Britain supporter who died awaiting trial.
In the 20 Insulate Britain jury trials for public nuisance charges to date, four trials have resulted in a hung jury, two trials have resulted in acquittals, eleven have resulted in a guilty verdict and three have been deferred. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has applied for retrials in the three cases where the jury failed to reach a majority verdict.
The CPS has chosen to summon a total of 56 supporters to answer at least 211 charges of public nuisance across at least 46 jury trials, with additional retrials planned into 2025. These trials are planned to be heard across Inner London, Hove, Lewes, Woolwich, and Reading Crown Courts and we estimate will take up at least 1,462 hours of court time at a cost of over £1 million.
Ends
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Notes to Editors
[1] Insulate Britain is a campaign group that is calling on the UK government to put in place policy and funding for a national home insulation programme starting with all social housing by 2025, and create a meaningful plan to insulate the entire UK housing stock by 2030.
Further information about Insulate Britain and our demands here:
https://insulatebritain.com/
Technical Report on home energy efficiency here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jt5FI-kinEXoqZtPDrCvnAVQ2EFn8Aea/view
Insulate Britain ‘Blue Lights’ policy: our policy is, and has always been, to move out of the way for emergency vehicles with ‘blue lights’ on.
[2] https://insulatebritain.com/2024/03/07/seven-insulate-britain-supporters-found-guilty-at-reading-crown-court/