Just Stop Oil activists jailed for disrupting thousands of hardworking people by scaling the M25 gantry have spoken of the ‘injustice of what has been done to us’.
In a joint statement, Cressida Gethin, 22, and Lucia Whittaker De Abreu, 35, bemoaned their loss of freedom and explained how they now join hundreds of women who have been ‘abjectly failed’ by society.
Speaking from her jail cell, Cressida said her fellow inmates understood the ‘injustice’ of what has been done, perhaps more so than ‘most people on the street’.
The stunt disrupted London’s M25 motorway for four days in 2022, causing 50,000 hours of delays for over 700,000 vehicles, including those attending funerals and hospital appointments.
The pair believe their sentences reflect a ‘brokenness’ in the ‘way the country functions’.
The climate activists, who were sentenced to four years for conspiracy to cause a public nuisance on July 18, are currently being held at HMP Bronzefield.
But despite their circumstances, they said they were ‘determined to find joy’ and had been ‘waltzing round our cell to music playing on our little plastic television’.
The Cambridge University student from leafy Herford said: ‘Nowhere is the violence of the system more obvious, nowhere is it clearer how our profit-driven economy stamps on anyone and anything that doesn’t conform.
‘People here have to fight to survive, the resilience and resourcefulness is inspiring.
‘If Judge Hehir believes that sending non-violent action-takers to prison will break us and extinguish the resistance, he will be disappointed.’
Social media users labelled the joint statement published on the Just Stop Oil ‘X’ page as ‘out of touch’ and ‘entitled’.
One user said: ‘The entitlement of these people is unbelievable. No respect for others, no remorse, no context or understanding of the bigger economic picture. Truly outstanding how much these people live in their bubble of make-believe.’
Another added: ‘Er, they and the other people are in prison because they broke the law. There seems to be an utter failure in both education & the parents to get the message home that if you choose (and boy oh boy did they choose) to break the law then you are punished.’
‘They think their actions don’t have consequences, absurd!!’ said another.
Prosecutors alleged the protests, which saw 45 people climb up the gantries, led to an economic cost of at least £765,000, while the cost to the Metropolitan Police was more than £1.1 million.
One person suffering an aggressive form of cancer missed a vital appointment due to the chaos and had to wait two months to be seen as a result. Others were late for flights while some even missed funerals due to traffic jams caused by the protest.
Children with special educational needs were also delayed on their way to school, one without access to his medication, meaning the driver was put at risk as the child could have become volatile.
On Tuesday, Cressida’s mother Cathy, from Herefordshire, spoken outside court after her daughter received her four-year sentence for her part in the stunt.
‘My daughter is Cressida Gethin. At the age of 22 she was the youngest defendant and she has just been sentenced today to four years in prison. This means she will not be present at her brother’s wedding next summer,’ she said.
Cathy is a bell-ringer at the family’s local church, while Cressida’s father Nick has been a cellist with the London Symphony Orchestra for many years.
Cathy added: ‘I want to bring [Cressida] to life for those of you who were not present in the courtroom.
‘Cressida grew up in the countryside, and is one of those nature loving defendants that you heard about.
‘She is an extremely talented musician. She worked hard growing up. She achieved highly. She has ambitions, dreams and hopes, like all young people. She had just finished her first year at university.’
Defending her daughter’s actions outside court, Cathy said: ‘Cressida also grew up completely understanding right and wrong. She has always been unable to stand by when she sees injustice.
‘She has the courage of a lion and a moral compass that compels her to step forward when she sees wrong.
‘Like many of the defendants Cressida tried polite routes to protest and to persuade to affect change. But when she heard the science and saw that no one was paying attention, she felt she had no option.’
Celebrities including Coldplay’s Chris Martin and TV’s Chris Packham were branded ‘champagne socialists’ after signing an open letter over the ‘injustice’ of the sentences received by the five JSO activists.
Furious social media users slammed the ‘out of touch’ celebrities for signing the open letter demanding a meeting with the attorney general to reassess the sentences.
One person wrote on X: ‘Demand!! Who do they think they are! Keep to their day jobs!’
Another added: ‘Totally agree with the out of touch Chris Packham. we should just [let] people do what they want, for long they want, how often they want.
‘JSO are a criminal gang. Need to have funs removed and org shut down.’
A third said: ‘Surely. If Chris Packham feels so strongly about the JSO sentences, he would do the same as they did to draw attention to his objections? But as far as I can see, he plays it safe from the sidelines. Hypocrite.’
Open Letter for Whole Truth Five
Dear Attorney General, Richard Hermer KC,
This week has seen one of the greatest injustices in a British court in modern history. On Thursday 18th July, five people were given the highest sentences for nonviolent protest this country has ever seen. They were on trial for holding a zoom call, calling on others to take action to raise the alarm about the greatest threat humanity has ever faced: the climate and nature crises.
These sentences were handed down just days after the new government’s policy of no new licensing for oil and gas infrastructure was announced. In a world of sound, evidence-based governance, none of this needed to happen. With prisons at breaking point and the new government acting urgently to address this, how can these sentences be seen as anything other than insanity? The sentences, ranging from 4 to 5 years, are higher than those given to many who commit serious sexual assault.
The defendants were denied the right to explain to a jury why they took the action they did, making a mockery of the right to a fair trial, with the judge saying that the Crown Prosecution’s agreed facts on climate collapse – including that the world has gone beyond 1.5 degrees for 12 consecutive months – were ‘neither here nor there’. These five brave, defiant people, like all nonviolent protestors, are fulfilling a necessary service by alerting the nation to the grave risk we all face, as scientists in their droves express their fear that many of the Earth’s systems are already at breaking point.
Immediately after the verdict, the UN’s special rapporteur on environmental defenders issued an extraordinary statement: ‘Today marks a dark day for peaceful environmental protest, the protection of environmental defenders and indeed anyone concerned with the exercise of their fundamental freedoms in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.’
According to the Office for National Statistics, 74% of people in the UK want urgent action on the climate crisis. Until a couple of weeks ago that majority was blocked by a Prime Minister who used climate – an existential threat – as a wedge issue in an election he lost. This new government has inherited a suite of recent legislation that conflicts with International Human Rights Law, and has put everyone’s right to peaceful protest at risk. The new government can address this now, as they have with fossil fuel licensing.
The world stands at a crossroads and so does our democracy. We write in support of Chris Packham and Dale Vince’s request for an urgent meeting with you, to be recorded so it is transparent to the public, to discuss the jailing of truth tellers and their silencing in court.
Sincerely, and with love for all humanity,
Rowan Williams – Former Archbishop of Canterbury
Juliet Stevenson – Actor
Chrissie Hynde – Musician
James Hansen – Climate Scientist
Ben Okri – Writer
Sandi Toksvig – Writer
Danny Boyle – Filmmaker
Brian Eno – Musician
Sir Jonathan Pryce – Actor
Peter Gabriel – Musician
Philip Pullman – Author
Greg Searle MBE – Olympic Gold Medallist – Rowing
Sir Geoffrey Bindman KC – Solicitor
Sir David King Chair – Climate Crisis Advisory Group (CCAG)
Annie Lennox – Singer
Mick Whelan – General Secretary of ASLEF Union
Clive Lewis MP
Peter Kalmus – NASA Climate Scientist
Jolyon Maugham KC – Director, Good Law Project
Eddie Dempsey – RMT Senior Assistant General Secretary
Legal
Dr Svitlana Romanko – Lawyer and Non Profit Director
Melinda Janki – Environmental Lawyer
Lord John Hendy KC – Barrister
Michael Mansfield KC – Barrister
Prof Bill Bowring – Emeritus Professor, Barrister
Liz Davies KC – Barrister
Gregg Taylor KC – Former Barrister
Guy Linley-Adams – Solicitor, Lecturer
Renata Avila – Human Rights Lawyer
Christina Eckes – Professor of European Law
Cultural
Chris Martin – Musician
Frankie Boyle – Comedian
Steve Coogan – Actor
Jarvis Cocker – Songwriter
Tracey Emin DBE – Artist
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall – Chef, Broadcaster
Es Devlin – Artist and Stage Designer
Adam McKay – Filmmaker
Toby Jones – Actor
Adam Buxton – Podcaster