NINETEEN Just Stop Oil (JSO) activists could be jailed this month for organising and taking part in non-violent action to demand a quicker transition away from fossil fuels.

Though none have been formally sentenced, the group has already spent a combined seven years and seven months in prison on remand. 

A trial commenced at Southwark Crown Court yesterday for two pairs of activists involved in a 2022 blockade on the M25 — one accused of planning the protest, the other of climbing motorway gantries.

Abigail Percy-Ratcliffe, 25, and Ian Bates, 65, were both spared jail today after being given suspended sentences

Two other activists are due to stand trial on Thursday on related conspiracy charges.

Last July, five JSO activists received unprecedented sentences — up to five years — after being convicted of similar charges for blocking the same motorway.

Meanwhile, two more groups will be sentenced for actions that did not even take place.

Nine activists are set to be sentenced for conspiracy to cause disruption at Heathrow Airport last July. 

A further five will be sentenced on May 23 for a conspiracy to cause disruption at Manchester Airport in August 2024.

The activists were all convicted in the months after Lord Walney — former Labour MP John Woodcock, a paid oil and arms industry lobbyist — called for groups such as JSO to be banned while in his role as an “independent” extremism adviser. 

Defend Our Juries spokesman Tim Crosland said: “Labour is cutting corners wherever you look, from winter fuel payments to pensioners to disability benefits to flood protection.

“And yet, they somehow find the funding to imprison 19 peaceful climate protesters for almost eight years between them before they have even been sentenced. 

“The courts of this country are serving the interests of the fossil fuel industry, not the interests of ordinary people who are scrambling to get by.”