Judge blasts ‘staggering’ lack of insight of ex-TFL boss’s wife and her eco-zealot pals who brought M25 to a standstill – but still doesn’t send them to jail
- Four people responsible for 2021 protest given suspended jail sentences
- They were also ordered to pay £1,800 and do up to 150 hours of unpaid work
A judge has blasted the ‘staggering’ lack of insight of a group of climate protesters over the effects of their protests and accused them of alienating people from their cause.
Judge Stephen Mooney made the comments as he handed out suspended jail sentences to four climate protesters who brought a busy interchange of the M25 to a standstill on 13 September 2021.
The judge also ordered them to pay £1,800 in costs and carry out up to 150 hours of unpaid work for their actions.
The four activists, including Cathy Eastburn, 55, the wife of a former Transport for London (TfL) boss, Benedict Plowden, were convicted of causing a public nuisance after they walked out into a carriageway at the Swanley interchange.
Eastburn, along with Insulate Britain spokesperson, Cameron Ford, 32, Alexander Rodger, 33, and Venetia Carter, 58 were arrested at the scene.
A judge has blasted the ‘staggering’ lack of insight of a group of climate protesters, which included Cathy Eastburn (pictured), 55, the wife of a former Transport for London (TfL) boss, Benedict Plowden
Eastburn and three others were convicted of causing a public nuisance after they walked out into a carriageway at the Swanley interchange
Venetia Carter, Cathy Eastburn, Alexander Rodger and Cameron Ford, pictured outside Hove Crown Court, were arrested at the scene on 13 September 2021
The chaos at Junction 3 left drivers during the height of rush hour furious and upset and caused huge backlog of traffic on roads for miles around.
The group unfurled banners and then sat down in the road while two went and handed out leaflets explaining their actions to angry motorists.
At one stage a distraught woman who was on her way to hospital to visit a dying loved one broke down in tears and pleaded to be let through the blockade.
Eastburn later described the distress caused to motorists as ‘collateral damage.’
Sentencing them Judge Mooney said he found their lack of insight into the effect their protest had on people ‘staggering’.
‘Whilst I do not doubt the sincerity of your beliefs I cannot help to observe that you all lack any degree of insight as to how your behaviour is regarded by those whose lives you affect.
‘It is simply staggering to hear your answer to the question of how you felt about preventing people from being able to see their dying relatives in hospital, or keeping important appointments namely that they were effectively collateral damage and your treatment of them was equivalent to breaking of ribs when administering CPR.
‘I would be surprised if that approach has in any way encouraged support for your cause amongst those who might otherwise have been sympathetic to it.’
The protest was planned to coincide with the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.
As traffic slowed at a red lights at Junction 3 a group of a dozen protesters walked out into the carriageway.
Protest group Insulate Britain stopping traffic at Junction 3 of the M25 in Swanley in 2021
Cathy Eastburn being arrested on Junction 3 of the M25 in September 2021
Protestors sat in the back of a police van after being arrested during the M25 protest
Kent Police was hugely stretched on the day with just five police officers available to deal with the incident.
Due to the immediate impact on traffic police officers were hugely delayed in responding to the incident.
Motorists were left shouting in anger and others broke down in tears as they tried to get children to school.
Others screamed insults at the group branding them ‘pr***s’ and ‘f***ing idiots’ as they were trapped at the interchange.
As a result the four protesters were not arrested and removed from the road for almost three hours.
At the trial the court was told the protesters chose the Interchange to cause ‘maximum disruption’ during rush hour.
Alex Young, prosecuting, said: ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions. For these protestors their good intentions and their view of the world and what needed to be done trumped all other considerations.
‘The protesters did not have a mandate. No-one had voted for it. They did not give people at the roadside a choice.
‘They could have handed out leaflets and asked people if they wanted to join protest but they didn’t. They decided that they knew best and no democratic society can tolerate that.’
A jury took less than 30 minutes to find the group of four guilty of causing a public nuisance after a trial in May.
Today the four protesters were all handed suspended prison sentences, ordered to each pay pay £1,800 costs and told carry out unpaid work.
Police speaking to one another as protesters block an M25 junction in 2021
Police arresting a member of the protest group on the M25
Speaking in court Ford said: ‘By stepping onto the motorway, it showed how terribly this government has failed to care for us.
‘By stepping onto the M25 it showed how desperate we were for change. Right or wrong we tried something and it will be for future generations to judge us.’
Carter said: ‘Peaceful protest is a vital part of a functioning democracy. With an increasingly hostile legal climate for protest, I believe the manifest failure of the government to safeguard citizens from present and future harm caused by climate breakdown is in danger of going substantially unchallenged.’
Rodgers and Ford were both jailed for six months suspended for 18 months, told to pay £1,800 in costs and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid after they both admitted a further offence on September 15 2021.
Carter and Eastburn were both sentenced to two months imprisonment suspended for 18 months, told to pay £1,800 in costs and to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
Hove Crown Court heard all the activists were serial offenders and had carried out a number of previous protests.
Eastburn, a part-time musician and sound therapist, already has convictions for trespass, obstructing and a railway engine, interrupting court proceedings and criminal damage.
Rodger also had four previous convictions while Ford and Carter each had one previous conviction.
Judge Mooney told them: ‘I told all of you from the very beginning that if you chose to use the criminal courts as a forum to publicise your view it would come at a cost.’
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