Insulate Britain climate change protester jailed for five weeks after blocking M4
Stephen Pritchard, 63, was sentences at Inner London Crown Court
PA
A climate change protester who blocked traffic on the M4 has been jailed.
Stephen Pritchard, 63, was sentences at Inner London Crown Court for his part in an Insulate Britain campaign in 2021.
He has been jailed for five weeks after being convicted by a jury of causing a nuisance to the public.
The former parish councillor from Bath was on trial alongside former probation officer Ruth Cook, 71, gardener Roman Paluch-Machnik, 29, and carpenter Oliver Rock, 42.
Insulate Britain campaigners, (left to right) Stephen Pritchard, Roman Paluch-Machnik, Ruth Cook and Oliver Rock, outside Inner London Crown Court
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Pritchard's co-defendants were each given six-week sentences suspended for 18 months on the proviso they do not offend again.
The three were also ordered to serve 100 hours’ community service.
Judge Silas Reid said Pritchard, a former parish councillor, was being jailed because he previously told the court that he would not stop taking part in disruptive action as a matter of “conscience”.
The judge had warned that "blocking the road in the way you did, if it was done for no reason, is a serious matter and would result in a prison sentence".
Pritchard had vowed to continue taking a stand on climate change, telling the judge: "The only possible way I could imagine stopping peaceful civil resistance in this context is for you to tell me that this country has stopped pumping greenhouse gases into the air."
He added: "I'm well aware of what prison is like, having been to prison.
"It's not a very nice place. But I feel like I'm already a prisoner of my conscience."
The other three defendants previously said they had been deterred from future disruptive protest action by experiences in court and prison.
Stephen Pritchard refused to promise not to block roads again
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Judge Reid told Pritchard: “It is not appropriate for me to suspend the inevitable sentence… you will serve up to half of your sentence in prison.”
Speaking to all four defendants, he said: “None of you have shown any remorse for your actions and in fact wear them with pride.”
The 2021 protest saw some of the defendants glue themselves to the tarmac on the M4 close to Heathrow Airport in west London, disrupting traffic flow in both directions for around two hours.