Another Insulate Britain supporter defied Judge Reid’s gagging order and told the whole truth to a jury at Inner London Crown Court yesterday. This show of defiance occurred at the end of a trial relating to Insulate Britain’s 2021 campaign of nonviolent civil resistance in which the jury failed to reach a verdict. [1]
Mary Adams, along with Judy Bruce, Michael Brown and Lucy Crawford were defendants in the thirteenth trial in front of Judge Reid at Inner London Crown Court. They were charged with causing a public nuisance in connection to the Insulate Britain roadblock at Upper Thames Street on 25th October 2021.[2]
At the end of the seven day trial and following four hours of deliberations, the nine person jury failed to return a majority verdict and was dismissed by the judge. Judge Reid will decide on June 30th whether to grant the Crown Prosecution Service a retrial.
As with all the Insulate Britain jury trials happening at Inner London Crown Court, Judge Silas Reid had ruled that the defendants could not refer to their motivations for blocking the road in their defence. They were each barred from referring to fuel poverty, insulation, the civil rights movement, climate change and a vast number of other relevant items. Defendants in the recent Insulate Britain public nuisance trials at Hove Crown Court have not been subjected to the same ‘silencing’ ruling.
Mary Adams, 69, a Charity Executive Director from London used her closing address to the jury yesterday to highlight her motivations :
“ We are mothers, grandmothers, we work for education charities, we’re successful artists, scientists, teachers, and small business owners…. Our actions were entirely driven by care for the public good. We’re motivated by care for our families, our communities, for you and your families, and for future generations.
“We have not been able to speak about this, but this is the reason we sat on a public road. The rulings of this court have deemed that motive and context are irrelevant in this trial. That the charge of public nuisance is to be judged in a vacuum. But when context and motive are stripped away, where is justice in the law?
“The climate crisis is a fact. It’s not a “personal belief” as described in this court. Nor is our government’s inaction on the greatest crisis in human history.”
In contrast to his recent rulings, Judge Reid did not direct the jury to leave the court and made no indication that he was considering contempt of court proceedings for which Mary could receive a prison sentence.
So far three Insulate Britain supporters have been sent to prison for up to eight weeks for speaking the whole truth and being found in contempt of court. All three people were given the opportunity to apologise to the court for the contempt but indicated they could not honestly do so as they did not recognise the legitimacy of the gagging order. Giovanna Lewis, 65, a town councillor from Portland, Dorset, Amy Pritchard, 37, a horticultural worker, from Walthamstow and David Nixon a care worker from Barnsley have all now been released. [3][4]
In a U-turn in March, Judge Reid retreated from sending Louise Lancaster to prison after she also told the whole truth in her closing address. Initially, Reid indicated that Louise would face a further hearing for contempt of court, but at the close of her trial, he backtracked, stating that there would be ‘no further action’ taken. [5]
On Monday and Tuesday, a group of up to twenty-four people including medical and legal professionals, Quakers, teachers and a priest, sat silently close to the juror’s entrance at Inner London Crown Court holding signs which said: “Jurors have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to their conscience”. [6][7]
The move by the group was prompted by the prior arrests, ordered by Judge Reid, of four others who displayed similar signs close to the juror’s entrance at Inner London Crown. Trudi Warner, Cathy Eastburn, Sally Davidson and Oliver Rock were all detained by the police but have not been charged. Trudi Warner was summoned to appear at the Old Bailey on 4th April and has been told her case has been sent to the Attorney General for review. [8][9]
The people who held signs on Monday and Tuesday were not warned or asked to move by court officials and no arrests were made. However, at the end of the trial yesterday Judge Reid indicated that they would also be referred to the Attorney General.
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/2021/10/25/breaking-we-wont-stand-by-while-the-government-kills-our-kids/
[5] https://insulatebritain.com/2023/03/31/a-victory-for-free-speech-as-judge-reid-concedes-on-his-gagging-order-after-four-insulate-britain-supporters-are-found-guilty-of-public-nuisance/
[6] https://insulatebritain.com/2023/05/15/breaking-high-noon-at-crown-court/
[7] https://insulatebritain.com/2023/05/16/breaking-judge-silence-reid-defeated-another-victory-for-civil-resistance/
[8] Trudi Warner arrested: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/04/climate-activist-trudi-warner-held-sign-telling-jurors-act-conscience-charged
[9] Cathy Eastburn, Sally Davidson and Oliver Rock arrested: https://youtu.be/GQxVU_JlB0E