Another Insulate Britain supporter was spared jail at Inner London Crown Court today as they were sentenced in relation to Insulate Britain’s 2021 campaign of nonviolent civil resistance to demand that the Government insulate Britain’s cold and leaky homes.[1]
Michelle Charlesworth, 56, from Abingdon pleaded guilty in October 2022 to the charge of public nuisance in connection with joining an Insulate Britain roadblock at J14 Poyle Interchange on the M25 on 27th September 2021. However, in her mitigation statement today she robustly defended her past actions stating that she believed they were fully justified despite her guilty plea. [2]
In her mitigation statement Michelle Charlesworth said:
“You know that I am a determined and moral human being. You know that I have the courage of my convictions and am prepared to do whatever it peacefully takes to try and make a difference in this terrible time that we are living in…”
“…My little grandson is 4yrs old. My heart aches knowing that the world we are leaving for him is a world that is becoming unlivable. We have all seen the crisis unfolding around us. This month alone our planet is experiencing the warmest consecutive days in millions of years. ..
“…Scientists agree that we must act, and if we don’t it will not be long before we will be fighting for food and water. Some countries already are. I never imagined that I would be doing this in my life – knowingly breaking the law in order to try and secure a liveable future for humanity…”
“..What else can we peacefully do, against the mighty and powerful, but use our own bodies to disrupt, to enable a conversation, an awareness raising, a demand to do the right thing.”
Turning to Judge Reid she said:
“And so I am using this opportunity Your Honour, I am here before you. Begging you and your colleagues to side with people protecting life against those who cause harm. I call on you to use your power and influence to challenge business as usual and to push back at government erosion of human rights and criminalisation of the messenger.
“You have the power to catalyse the change needed within your own institution and influence government action. How long will you continue ignoring the situation, locking up activists? How long will you put up with the destruction of life on Earth?”
Judge Reid sentenced her to 4 weeks, suspended for 12 months and a £128 court surcharge. No costs were awarded against her.
So far this year seven 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 or for vowing to continue in civil resistance. [3][4][5]
On Monday a group of up to 20 people sat silently outside Isleworth Crown Court holding signs which said: “Jurors have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to their conscience”. The show of resistance from the group (which includes Quakers, doctors, athletes, professors and a former government lawyer) comes amid mounting concern jury trials are being increasingly politicised. After a series of acquittals have embarrassed ministers and politicians, measures have been taken by Judges and lawmakers to render the role of jurors substantially meaningless, while preserving the appearance of jury trial. [6]
Many of these measures have been applied by Judge Silas Reid at Inner London Crown Court in relation to Insulate Britain public nuisance trials. Amongst other things, he has banned defendants from explaining their motivations or the context for their actions to the jury, sent people to prison for using the terms “climate change” and “fuel poverty” in court and ordered the arrest and referred for prosecution those who remind jurors of their right to make decisions on their conscience. [7][8] [9]
In the eighteen Insulate Britain jury trials for public nuisance charges to date, four trials have resulted in a hung jury, two trials have resulted in acquittals, nine 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 twelve people to whom this applies have been told to expect the retrials to take place early in 2024.
The CPS has chosen to summon a total of 56 supporters to answer at least 201 charges of public nuisance across at least 45 jury trials the last of which is scheduled to begin on 4th December 2023, and now additional retrials planned into 2024. These trials are planned to be heard across Inner London, Hove, Lewes 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. [5]
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.
[3] David Nixon jailed: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/07/insulate-britain-activist-david-nixon-jailed-for-eight-weeks-for-contempt-of-court
[4] Amy Pritchard and Giovanna Lewis jailed: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/activists-jailed-for-seven-weeks-for-defying-ban-on-mentioning-climate-crisis/
[5] Stephen Pritchard jailed: http://insulatebritain.com/2023/03/13/first-four-supporters-to-be-sentenced-for-public-nuisance-three-are-spared-jail-whilst-one-is-jailed/
[5] Reverend Mark Coleman and Catherine Rennie-Nash jailed: http://insulatebritain.com/2023/04/20/breaking-courts-prove-themselves-to-be-morally-bankrupt-as-five-people-are-jailed-in-one-week-for-vowing-to-continue-in-civil-resistance/
[5] Louise Lancaster jailed: http://insulatebritain.com/2023/06/30/breaking-another-insulate-britain-supporter-jailed-after-vowing-to-continue-in-civil-resistance-against-fuel-poverty-and-climate-collapse/
[6] https://twitter.com/InsulateLove/status/1680990089797664773?s=20