Guildford Crown Court has found eight Just Stop Oil supporters not guilty of public nuisance. The trial concerned an August 2022 action in which the group peacefully disrupted the UK’s largest petrol station to demand an end to new fossil fuel projects.
Just Stop Oil M25: activists not guilty of public nuisance for petrol station shut down
Michael Davies, Charles Laurie, Phoebe Frewer, Sophie Sharples, Tez Burns, Peter Lay, Gareth Harper and Emma Ireland took action at Cobham Services on 24 August 2022. They were among 35 Just Stop Oil supporters who blocked three M25 petrol stations and disabled scores of petrol pumps at Cobham, Clacket Lane, and Thurrock. The action led the Daily Mail to proclaim that:
no petrol was available for M25 drivers.
On 28 August, the court found all eight not guilty of intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance. However, the court did rule Tez Burns and Peter Lay guilty of criminal damage. It also found Charles Laurie guilty of possession of a hammer with intent to damage property, after he damaged two petrol pumps. Sentencing has been scheduled for 10 October 2025.
During the trial, the prosecution alleged that police were already at the scene when the Just Stop Oil supporters arrived at around 5am. Moreover, it claimed that two supporters had rushed off to damage two petrol pumps before the police could stop them. It had argued that other activists had acted “as a decoy” by blocking the entrance to the service station. The prosecution further alleged that this was not “peaceful protest” because in law damaging property is a violent act. It suggested that while not all eight had smashed petrol pumps, all were implicated.
A police witness confirmed that police had set up contraflow system. This allowed motorists to access the petrol station within 20 minutes of the activists blocking the entrance. Meanwhile, the service station manager confirmed that 34 out of 36 petrol pumps remained operational throughout and that there was little evidence to support earlier statements that large traffic queues were caused by the protest. Both prosecution witnesses and defendants struggled to recall in detail the events which happened some three years previously.
The ‘alarm bells are deafening’: it’s time to act
The judge, Recorder L Harris, ruled that those who had been accused of criminal damage or attempted criminal damage could not claim they were exercising their rights to peaceful protest under the ECHR article 10 and 11. However, he also ruled that it was for the jury to decide whether or not those the police had charged with public nuisance had the reasonable excuse of peaceful protest, or if they too had violent intentions by wanting fellow activists to damage the petrol pumps.
In their closing speeches, all the defendants were able to refer to the agreed facts in the case. Notably, this included several key points about the climate crisis.
In his closing speech, Charles Laurie said:
What is most important? The agreed facts are still going to be true. They won’t go away because you find us guilty. We all know things are getting worse on the climate. We are facing an existential crisis.
He then read from Adrienne Rich’s poem, Natural Resources:
My heart is moved by all I cannot save: so much has been destroyed, I have to cast my lot with those who age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world.
Tez Burns said:
I did the right thing despite what the law says, there’s a threat to life.
He then quoted the UN secretary general António Guterres:
The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse‑gas emissions from fossil-fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk.
Common sense prevails
Following the verdict, Emma Ireland said:
I am grateful to the Judge and the prosecution for allowing the agreed facts on the climate crisis to have played a part in this trial and for allowing us to speak to our motivations without fear of being found in contempt of court.
The prosecution spoke about common sense and I was reminded that in 2022, I felt that common sense would have been for the Conservative government to stop issuing new oil and gas licenses, to show a commitment to reducing carbon emissions, and in turn, to offer some protection to humanity from the gravest predictions of climate collapse. When Labour came to power that is what they did, because it’s common sense, right? And it’s common sense now that women have the vote in the UK, but to get this, the suffragettes took direct action and found themselves in court, in front of juries just like us. I’m grateful to the jury for their attentive listening, for their patience, and for the essential part they played in the trial.
Featured image via the Canary
