News1 min ago
About Time?
Five Just Stop Oil protesters have been jailed for four and five years each for causing huge disruption on the M25 in November 2022.
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They have been jailed under a law of "conspiracy to cause a public nuisance", introduced by the Tories.
Leaving aside that they will only serve 40% of their sentences, do you think the new government will ditch this law? It seems to be doing exactly what it was intended to do. Counsel for the main conspirator, Roger Hallam, told the court that his client had since rejected direct action campaigning due to its limitations and changed his approach to more conventional political campaigning. If that's true, the law seems to have had some effect. But will it go the way of the anti-strike law into Labour's dustbin?
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“If my memory serves me correctly, the length of these sentences are such that they are never spent. Good. This will have implications for the rest of their lives.”
Unfortunately not, DD.
The only sentences which are never spent are Life imprisonment or sentences of more than four years that were imposed for serious violent, sexual and terrorism offences.
Mr Hallam’s sentence (being of more than four years) will be spent seven years after the end of his sentence (which includes his periods of remission, so 12 years from now). The others (whose sentences were not more than four years) will see their sentences spent after 4 years (so 8 years from now).
“…these sentences I think will likely be reduced and suspended upon appeal”
I don’t think they will. The maximum sentence for the offence is ten years. The “public nuisance” created by these people was at the top end of the scale. Their aim was to bring the south east of England’s motorway system to a halt, or at least create enough chaos to see serious nuisance ensue. It went on for four days. People missed flights, hospital appointments, funerals, business meetings and much more. You could not get a more serious nuisance created. A police motorcyclist was badly injured whilst trying to impose a rolling road block when it became necessary to stop the traffic because of their actions.
Parliament has decided what action the country will take to combat climate change. This country has done more than most in that direction. These people do not agree with Parliament’s decisions. But, as the judge remarked, their actions went way beyond protest and despite their assertions to the contrary, they set out to cause the maximum disruption to the most number of people they could. For their sentences to be suspended they will have to be reduced to a minimum of two years. That seems unlikely when a single protest on the Dartford Bridge attracted a term of three years. My view is that, taking in all the circumstances and bearing in mind they pleaded not guilty (so no discount for a guilty plea) their sentences were quite lenient.
