Four climate activists have gone on trial for allegedly blocking the M25, in the first of dozens of jury trials planned for supporters of the Insulate Britain campaign.
Daniel Shaw, 37, from Northampton, Karen Wildin, 58, from Leicester, Maria Lee, 69, from Northampton, and Victoria Lindsell, 67, from Rugby, appeared at Inner London crown court each charged with two counts of causing a public nuisance, which they deny.
They are accused of taking part with others in protests on 13 September 2021 at junction 14 of the motorway, near Heathrow, and on 15 September 2021 at junction 25, to the north of the capital.
Opening the prosecution case, David Matthew told jurors they were trying Shaw, Wildin, Lee and Lindsell “for what they did as part of the activities of the group Insulate Britain”.
“What happened on that Monday morning, 13 September last year, was, shortly before 9 o’clock in the morning, while traffic still included people going to work, this group of 14 people started their block, traffic started backing up behind them,” he said.
They remained in place as police arrived and it took nearly three hours for officers to remove them, Matthews told the court. “Not one of them moved away before being arrested,” he said.
On the second occasion, there were roadworks taking place around the junction, Matthews told the jury. “There was at least one ambulance in traffic backed up. An ambulance man came forward and asked the block to move. They did move and they went off down another roundabout. Traffic came down the slip road and eventually the ambulance was able to get through after a few minutes.”
Along with officers who attended the scene of each protest, Matthews said he intended to call a witness from National Highways, the agency that manages the M25 and motorways across England and Wales, who would say that on each of the two days that Insulate Britain took action, “something like 40,000 vehicles were affected”.
The four defendants are charged with the old common law offence of public nuisance, which has since been superseded by a new statutory offence of public nuisance, brought in by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, passed in April.
The judge Silas Reid told jurors that in order to find the defendants guilty, the prosecution must prove they committed an act “not warranted by law” that obstructed the rights of a significant number of members of the public “in the exercise or enjoyment of rights”.
He said: “Members of the public have a general right, for the purposes of the offence of public nuisance, to have free movement and travel” on the motorways.
He told the jury to put aside their views on climate protesting or climate activism, or groups such as Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain or Just Stop Oil.
“Your job is to try this case only on the evidence that you hear at this trial,” Reid said. “This is not a trial about climate change or fuel poverty, or whether the actions of any of the organisations I have mentioned should be applauded or condemned. It is a trial about public nuisance, and particularly about two incidents that occurred in September last year.”
Insulate Britain said the trial was the first of at least 51 of its supporters on charges of public nuisance that are due to take place over the next 13 months.
The trial continues.
