Climate protester jailed after vowing to continue disruptive action

Stephen Pritchard, who blocked traffic on motorway, is sentenced to five weeks in prison

Insulate Britain climate activist Stephen Pritchard was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court. AFP

A former parish councillor who vowed to continue disruptive protests after blocking traffic on one of the UK’s busiest motorways has been sentenced to five weeks in jail.

Stephen Pritchard, 63, from Bath, was sentenced on Monday for his part in a demonstration in which he and several others brought 10,000 vehicles to a halt at junction 3 of the M4 near London's Heathrow Airport on October 1, 2021.

His three co-defendants were given six-week sentences, suspended for 18 months on the condition they do not reoffend, in addition to being ordered to complete 100 hours’ community service.

The trio previously said they had been deterred from such protests by experiences in court and prison.

But Pritchard, of the Insulate Britain activist group, had earlier told the court he would not stop taking part in similar action as "a matter of conscience”.

At Inner London Crown Court, Judge Silas Reid said Pritchard, who is Buddhist, was being sent to jail because of his stand.

“It is not appropriate for me to suspend the inevitable sentence … you will serve up to half of your sentence in prison,” he told Pritchard.

Speaking to the four convicted, he said: “None of you have shown any remorse for your actions and in fact wear them with pride.”

They had glued themselves to the tarmac on the M4 close to Heathrow in west London, blocking traffic in both directions for about two hours.

Judge Reid said they had shown a “level of planning and sophistication”, having “been to the scene the day before on a scouting mission”.

The activists also planned to let emergency vehicles pass, and Judge Reid said there was “no evidence” that any were delayed by the demonstration.

However, he added that there was still a risk they could have been “caught up in other congestion around the road”.

Judge Reid said: “There was significant harm caused in this case.

“Well over 10,000 people were significantly negatively impacted by your actions.

“People would have lost earnings, missed appointments and potentially missed flights.

“This was a carefully planned, sophisticated operation … each of you have high culpability for this deliberately criminal action”.

He said the “appropriate sentence” for such action would normally be “in the region of 12 months imprisonment”, but this was reduced by the protesters’ aim of bringing attention to the climate crisis.

Insulate Britain supporters protest near Inner London Crown Court before the sentencing of campaigners Ruth Cook, Roman Paluch-Machnik, Stephen Pritchard and Oliver Rock. PA

He had previously banned the four from mentioning this motive in front of the jurors. who went on to convict them of causing a public nuisance.

Insulate Britain said this was the first time climate activists in the UK had been found guilty of the common law offence, which carries a maximum penalty of lifetime imprisonment.

Judge Reid gave all four the opportunity to outline their motivation after their conviction, because “motivation is relevant to sentence” but not to whether they had committed the crime of public nuisance, he said.

“The court has to look at why someone has committed a criminal offence,” he said. “You each spoke eloquently about your beliefs.”

Judge Reid acknowledged that “protest has an important history in this country” but “the right to protest does not give you the right to disrupt the lives of thousands of people”.

A handful of supporters in the public gallery applauded and shouted “we love you, Steve”, as the judge ordered him to follow a probation officer after sentencing.

Speaking to the PA news agency afterwards, the other three convicted — Ruth Cook, 71, Roman Paluch-Machnik, 29, and Oliver Rock, 42 — praised Pritchard for his “bravery” and said it had been difficult for them to promise not to take part in future disruption.

Rock, a carpenter from Dulwich, south London, said: “I’m sad to see that brave man go to prison today.

“I feel enormous gratitude to him for the strength of his convictions and his bravery.

“Telling the truth when you know it’s going to cost you is an amazing example.”

Former probation officer Cook, a grandmother from Frome, Somerset, said pledging against future criminal action had been “one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make” but she questioned “what it would achieve for me to be in prison”.

Of Pritchard, she said: “He is such a man of principle and he has been to prison before — he knows what it’s going to be like and he knows how hard it is going to be on his family.”

Paluch-Machnik, a gardener, said their sentences had been dependent on their future plans, and there had been “a complete disregard for the things we were actually talking about”.

Rock said: “In this non-violent struggle, your enemy chooses the terrain in which you fight.

“Imprisoning peaceful protesters has changed the terrain and we have to choose how we react to that.”

In January, Prof Ian Acheson of the Counter Extremism Project called on the UK to use existing laws and set up special courts to expedite the arrest, prosecution and punishment of people whose actions have a disproportionate effect on the public.

He warned some radicalised people involved in protest causes may feel the only way to keep their case alive may be "through a high-profile act of violence”.

He spoke after Extinction Rebellion, also known as XR, vowed at the start of this year to end acts of public disruption.