Five Insulate Britain supporters were given suspended sentences at Woolwich Crown Court today for actions taken during Insulate Britain’s 2021 campaign of nonviolent civil resistance demanding the UK government insulate Britain’s cold and leaky homes. A campaign that was later called prescient by a number of commentators. [1] [2] [3]
Mair Bain, Tam Millar and Barry Mitchell, received sentences of six months, suspended for two years. Victoria Lynch-Staunton was given a suspended sentence of seven months and Karen Wildin, who pleaded guilty at trial, was given five months. They were found guilty of public nuisance at a trial in November, for participating in the first two actions of the Insulate Britain campaign on 13th September 2021 at junction 14 of M25 and 15th September 2021 at junction 25 of M25. [4][5][6]
The group also received 12 month community orders comprising 140 hours of unpaid work with the exception of Karen Wildin who was given 110 hours. Tam Millar and Victoria Lynch Staunton were order to pay costs of £1000, while the remaining three face a statutory surcharge £120 or £150.
Ian Bates, who had also pleaded guilty to the charges before trial, will be sentenced at a later date.
The sentencing comes a week after devastating climate fuelled storms flattened Mayotte in the Indian Ocean leaving thousands dead, while parts of the UK are still recovering from catastrophic flooding caused by Storm Darragh last week. Yesterday the Environment Agency revealed that 6 million UK homes are currently at risk of flooding, a figure that could rise to 8 million or one in four by 2050. [7][8][9]
Speaking after the sentencing Mair Bain, 37, a science communicator from Derby said:
“I knew when I took action that challenged the profit interests of energy companies and the fossil fuel industry for the deaths they were causing through fuel poverty and climate breakdown, that the state would seek to punish me harshly to protect corporate interests. It’s a sacrifice I was willing to make as these injustices are more intolerable than anything the state may do to me.”
Karen Wildin, 60, a private tutor from Leicester said:
“Insulate Britain was about preventing public nuisance, about preventing death caused by fuel poverty and climate breakdown. It was also about creating jobs. Keir Starmer before becoming Prime Minister said that a million jobs could be created if we insulate Britain – but where is that commitment now he is in power? Where is his responsibility in these times?”
“It is the lobbyists for big business and their friends in government and the media who are the real criminals. It is they who are causing a ‘public nuisance’ by putting profit before people – profits that simultaneously destroy our home and impoverish and kill the disempowered.”
“These trials show that our governments, whether Conservative or Labour, are betraying us all, particularly young people at home and across the world. The system is rigged and we need more of the public to realise that their engagement is crucial to protect anyone in their life who is hoping to be alive beyond 2030.”
Victoria Lynch-Staunton, 69, an English teacher for refugees and migrants from Warwickshire said:
“It saddens me that the government would rather prosecute peaceful protectors than face up to the realities of the climate emergency and embrace the common sense and sustainable actions that Insulate Britain demanded. This sentence is shameful but doesn’t lessen my commitment to bring desperately needed change.”
In the 23 Insulate Britain jury trials for public nuisance charges to date, three trials have resulted in a hung jury, three trials have resulted in acquittals, fourteen have resulted in a guilty verdict and three have been deferred. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has applied for retrials in 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 201 charges of public nuisance across some 45 jury trials, with additional retrials planned up to June 2025. These trials have been heard across Inner London, Hove, Lewes, Reading and now Woolwich Crown Courts.
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://unherd.com/newsroom/insulate-britain-was-right-all-along/
[4] https://insulatebritain.com/2021/09/13/get-the-job-done/
[5] https://insulatebritain.com/2021/09/15/why-is-an-82-year-old-stepping-out-onto-the-road/