Climate change protester jailed after blocking traffic on the M4
A climate change protester has been jailed for five weeks after blocking traffic on the M4.
Stephen Pritchard was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court following his part in an Insulate Britain campaign in 2021.
Around 10,000 vehicles were disrupted by him and a number of other demonstrators at Junction 3 of the motorway on October 1, 2021.
Some glued themselves to the tarmac on the M4 close to Heathrow Airport in west London, disrupting traffic flow in both directions for around two hours.
Pritchard’s three co-defendants all avoided jail as they were each given six-week sentences, suspended for 18 months, on the proviso they do not offend again.
Former probation officer Ruth Cook, 71, gardener Roman Paluch-Machnik, 29, and carpenter Oliver Rock, 42, were also ordered to serve 100 hours’ community service.
The sentencing comes after Pritchard condemned an ‘amoral’ order made by Judge Silas Reid that banned him from mentioning his climate-related motivations to a jury.
The judge told the protestors to ‘concentrate as much as possible on motivation’ in their speeches ahead of sentencing following the ruling.
Insulate Britain says Pritchard is one of the first protestors to be convicted of causing a public nuisance.
Judge Silas Reid said the former parish councillor was being jailed because he previously told the court that he would not stop taking part in disruptive action as a matter of ‘conscience’.
Pritchard had told the court he resorted to protest action after he had ‘exhausted every other means’.
This included writing to his MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, signing petitions, leading sustainability projects and planting tens of thousands of trees, he said.
He said he felt ‘overwhelming sadness’ about the government’s ‘inaction’ on climate change.
The other three defendants said they had been put off from taking part in future disruptive protests by experiences in court and prison.
Judge Reid told Pritchard: ‘It is not appropriate for me to suspend the inevitable sentence… you will serve up to half of your sentence in prison.’
Speaking to all four defendants, he added: ‘None of you have shown any remorse for your actions and in fact wear them with pride.’
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