THREE climate activists were handed suspended sentences at Isleworth Crown Court today for allegedly trying to shut down Heathrow Airport with small toy drones in September 2019.
The Heathrow Pause campaign aimed to stop the airport’s third runway due to its projected impact on climate breakdown.
The campaign involved flying small toy drones at head height, within the airport’s 5km exclusion zone, but so far away from any planes that it posed no risk to aircraft.
Airport operations manager Paul Farmer confirmed the action posed no risk to the public and had caused no disruption to air traffic.
Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil co-founder Roger Hallam and Dr Larch Maxey were given suspended sentences of two years each, and Mr Lynch-White has been given a suspended sentence of 17 months, after being accused of conspiracy to cause public nuisance.
All have been given community service orders of 200 hours.
Co-founder of Scienctist Rebellion Mr Lynch-White, who last year served 10 months for disrupting the arms supply to Israel at a factory in Runcorn, told the Star that the prison sentence was “much harsher than expected,” but that he was “happy not to be going back.”
Ahead of the the sentencing, Mr Hallam said: “Thousands of people need to create mass economic disruption and go to prison in order to force governments to protect their people and enact legislation that will rapidly reduce carbon emissions.
“Going to prison, losing your job, losing your partner isn’t the end of the world. What is the end of the world, is the end of the world.”
In December, Mr Hallam and Mr Maxey were found guilty of conspiracy to cause public nuisance, which they appealed today on the grounds that trial judge Martin Edmunds misdirected them, the jury and himself.
Initially, Judge Edmunds required the prosecution to prove the defendants intended to shut Heathrow down, despite impossibility.
In their closing speeches, the defendants said that although it was highly unlikely, anything was possible, leading the judge to reverse his decision and require the prosecution to prove the possibility of the airport shutting down.
Tim Crosland, Lawyer and director of the climate justice charity Plan B, said it was the “first time” he had “witnessed a judge changing the legal goalposts after the defendants have given both their evidence and closing speeches.
“It comes amid mounting evidence that, following a pattern of jury acquittals, some judges are manipulating the court process to engineer guilty verdicts for those exposing the government’s climate lies and hypocrisy.”
