13th March 11am
For immediate release
The first four Insulate Britain supporters to be convicted of causing a public nuisance at the Crown Court, were sentenced after stopping traffic at Cranford Parkway on the M4 on 1st October 2021 as part of Insulate Britain’s 2021 campaign of nonviolent civil resistance. One other trial relating to the same roadblock has already taken place in which four defendants were acquitted. [1][2][3][4]
Roman Paluch, Ruth Cook and Oliver Rock, were today given prison sentences of 6 weeks suspended for 18 months and ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work in their communities.
Stephen Pritchard was given a custodial prison sentence of 6 weeks after he indicated to the court he would continue in civil resistance. Judge Reid immediately reduced the 6 week prison sentence by 1 week due to current levels of overcrowding in U.K. prisons and ordered that Steve Pritchard is to serve only half of the 5 week sentence in prison before being released.
As with all the Insulate Britain public nuisance trials at Inner London Crown Court, those sentenced today were subject to Judge Reid’s gagging order during their trial. Reid’s ruling prevents Insulate Britain supporters from truthfully defending themselves in court by banning them from explaining their motivations and from mentioning fuel poverty, the climate crisis or civil resistance in front of the jury trying them.
Stephen Pritchard, 63, a property maintenance worker from Bath who was representing himself said to the court during mitigation;
“I consider peaceful civil resistance to be the most responsible thing I can do. For me it’s no longer an option to sit on the sofa watching David Attenborough speak about the destruction of the natural world. The most responsible thing to do is carry on the peaceful, nonviolent civil resistance.
The judiciary is inadequate to the situation. I had been able to speak freely, to have freedom of speech to the jury. I am disappointed in myself for going through this trial and obeying your rulings. I am disappointed that I didn’t speak the truth about the significance of insulation.
I think that your rulings are amoral and irrational. People’s lives are being lost. The only possible way I could imagine stopping peaceful civil resistance in this context is for you to tell me this country has stopped pumping carbon emissions into the air”.
Speaking before sentencing today Ruth Cook, 70, a company director and former probation officer from Frome said:
“When given all the facts, juries are increasingly choosing not to convict those who nonviolently disrupt business as usual in order to force the government to take action.
“I don’t for a second regret taking part in the campaign. It was the right then and it’s even more urgent now that the government gets on with the job of cutting carbon and saving lives by insulating Britain’s leaky homes.
“The government is neglecting its primary duty to keep people safe. They would rather lock up pensioners than insulate their homes. They would rather lock up young people than take practical steps to reduce carbon emissions and stop their early deaths. We understood we could face prison when we took part in the Insulate Britain campaign because we could not stand by while the government betrays the people of this country.”
Oliver Rock, 42, a carpenter from South London who was representing himself said to the court during mitigation;
“We are looking at the breakdown of civilised life in a generation. This information is out there and available for people to see, but not in the trials of Insulate Britain of course. Politicians want us to be quiet while we go to our doom and in this courtroom I’ve been given 15-20 minutes to talk about our collective suidice.”
No prosecution costs were awarded to either Oliver Rock, Roman Paluch or Stephen Pritchard and only a victim surcharge of £128 was given due to these defendants being of limited means and already receiving high costs as part of a private prosecution by National Highways. Ruth Cook was ordered to pay £3,500 prosecution costs arising from this trial and also £128 victim surcharge.
Three of the defendants have already served prison sentences for actions taken with the 2021 campaign. Stephen Pritchard served a total of 24 days over two stretches in February and May 2022, while Roman Paluch and Oliver Rock served 59 days between November 2021 and January 2022. [5]
Last week another two Insulate Britain supporters were sent to prison 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 sit in the road. 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. Three supporters in total have now received prison time for speaking the whole truth at Inner London Crown court. [6] [7]
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
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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] http://insulatebritain.com/2021/10/01/insulate-britain-blocks-m4-m1/