Four Insulate Britain supporters were today found guilty of causing a public nuisance by a Crown Court jury, in the tenth trial relating to Insulate Britain’s 2021 campaign of nonviolent civil resistance demanding that the government Insulate Britain’s cold and leaky homes. [1]
George Burrow, Tony Hill, Benjamin Taylor and Matthew Tulley were declared guilty of causing a public nuisance in relation to the Insulate Britain roadblock at Bishopsgate on 25th October 2021. [2]
After a five day hearing, the 12 person jury took one hour to return a unanimous guilty verdict. All four will appear again for sentencing on 31st March and they have 28 days to appeal the conviction. The maximum penalty for the common law offence of public nuisance is life imprisonment.
The trial started with Judge Silas Reid ruling that the four defendants could not refer to their motivations for blocking the road in their defence. As with the earlier Insulate Britain jury trials, the defendants were each barred from referring to the climate crisis, insulation or fuel poverty during the trial.
Tony Hill, 72, a former Police Officer and paratrooper from Burneside, Cumbria said:
“This was my first and only court case in my life. What did I do? I sat on a road in London in peaceful, silent protest. Why did I do it? A simple plea, insulate the appalling housing stock, indeed all buildings in Britain. How prescient was that, given the energy crisis we now face. As a former police officer and parish councillor, I have utterly lost faith, respect and trust in the government.”
Bryan Burrow, 68, a student and retired therapist from Kendal, Cumbria, said
“In my trial I was unable to mention climate change, insulation or fuel poverty as well as many other things like, record prices for heating our homes, that were the real motivation behind our actions. I swore to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Could I tell the whole truth? I was not allowed to, as telling the truth is contempt of court, which would land me in prison. I am happy that I tried to spread the message of Insulating Britain. We have broken the law to spread this message.
Matthew Tulley, 64, a retired businessman and engineer from Holmfirth, West Yorks said:
We broke the law to spread our message of the need for insulation to save lives and cut carbon. I don’t regret our actions. We made the news and spread the word. In Ireland they have been getting on with retrofitting for social housing, and for people who own their homes with a well designed, grant-funded set of measures. In Ireland they didn’t need to glue themselves to the roads because the government listened to the wishes of the people in a Citizen’s Assembly.”
Last week another two Insulate Britain supporters were jailed for seven weeks after being found in contempt of court and refusing to apologise for telling a jury that fuel poverty and the climate crisis had motivated them to join the 2021 roadblock campaign. Giovanna Lewis, 65, a town councillor from Portland, Dorset and Amy Pritchard, 37, a horticultural worker, from Walthamstow, London defied Judge Reid’s gagging order during the ninth jury trial relating to Insulate Britain’s 2021 campaign. [ 3]
Five other trials relating to the same roadblock have taken place since December 2022 in which one resulted in a not guilty verdict, 3 resulted in guilty verdicts and one resulted in a hung jury. [4]
In the nine previous Insulate Britain jury trials for public nuisance charges, one trial has resulted in a hung jury, two trials have resulted in acquittals, four have resulted in a guilty verdict and two have been deferred. The first Insulate Britain jury trial was deferred until June 2023 after Judge Reid dismissed the jury and asked the Crown Prosecution Service to consider whether proceeding with the trial was in the public interest. [5]
The Crown Prosecution Service has chosen to summon a total of 56 supporters to answer at least 201 charges of Public Nuisance across at least 51 jury trials the last of which is scheduled to begin on 4th December 2023. These trials are planned to be heard across Inner London, Hove, Lewes and Reading Crown Courts and we estimate will take up around 1428 hours of court time.
ENDS
Press contact: 07762987334
Email: insulatebritainpress@protonmail.com
High quality photos and video footage available here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Kucq-NfhnZLGJWwLx1HX03cWR7M9Y2-m
Website: https://www.insulatebritain.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/insulatebritain
Twitter: https://twitter.com/insulatelove
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8N5mAeeCLbD-AFUqtPaF0g
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] http://insulatebritain.com/2021/10/25/breaking-we-wont-stand-by-while-the-government-kills-our-kids/