ACTIVISTS from Just Stop Oil (JSO) who disrupted the 2022 British Grand Prix, lost appeals against their convictions today.

In July 2022, the five activists staged a peaceful sit-in on the Formula 1 track at Silverstone, demanding that the then-Tory government stop issuing new fossil fuel licences, a move Labour has since followed through on since taking power.

Alasdair Gibson and Louis McKechnie, both 23, David Baldwin, 49, Emily Brocklebank, 26, and 31-year-old Joshua Smith were convicted of causing a public nuisance in February last year at Northampton Crown Court.

Prosecutors accused them of risking “serious harm” to drivers and race marshals.

JSO said they ensured the action was as safe as possible, and that they sat on away from the “racing line,” as the final vehicles returned to the pits during the action.

Mr Baldwin, Mr Gibson and Mr Smith were handed 12-month community orders, while Ms Brocklebank and Mr McKechnie were given suspended sentences of 12 months and six months, both suspended for two years.

Speaking before the sentencing last year, Ms Brocklebank said: “Although it feels very strange to sit in the glass box waiting to be sentenced, it is doubly surreal that it is not the government that is waiting to be judged for ignoring both the science, and their commitments in law to prevent climate breakdown.”

The activists launched an appeal and had a hearing in June, which was then opposed by the Crown Prosecution Service which claimed that sections of the public were at risk during the action. 

Today, judges dismissed the appeals.

They concluded that directions given to jurors by the judge overseeing the protesters’ trial contained “no error of law.”