A 77-year-old activist is facing recall to prison because her wrists are too small for an electronic tag.
Gaie Delap, from Bristol, was sent to prison in August, along with four co-defendants, for her part in a campaign of disruptive protests on the M25 in November 2022.
Several months after she was jailed for the Just Stop Oil protests, she was let out after being told she qualified to serve the rest of her sentence under a home detention curfew.
But the company contracted to fit the tag to Delap was unable to attach one to her ankle because of a health condition, and there are no devices available small enough to fit wrists her size.
Now there is a warrant for her arrest after the company contacted the prison authorities to tell them she “could not be monitored”.
The terms of Delap’s curfew prevent her speaking directly to the media so her brother, Mick, is speaking on her behalf. “This is very cruel,” he said. “Gaie is sitting at home terrified with her suitcase packed waiting for a knock on the door from police. She has been unable to eat or sleep because of this.
“She is hoping against hope that sense can prevail and that she won’t have to go back to jail.”
He said his sister had various health problems and continued to have no feeling in one finger after being handcuffed for a hospital visit during her time in prison. She could not wear an ankle tag because she was at risk of deep-vein thrombosis.
Of the five people Delap was jailed with, four have been released early and three have been successfully tagged. The tagging system is operated by Electronic Monitoring Services (EMS), managed under a Ministry of Justice contract.
On Thursday Delap was informed that a warrant for her arrest had been issued and that she was to be returned to prison due to an “inability to monitor” her. The same issue with tagging arose when she was on bail and a “doorstep curfew” was agreed from 7pm to 7am, with random checks incorporated. This alternative has not been offered this time.
Mick said: “As family and friends we are aware of failures in the tagging system, and this case appears to be a miscarriage of justice. We have been in touch with the probation service, who are supportive of Gaie. But we believe that the matter has been taken out of their hands.
“It is clear that Gaie is caught in a nightmarish triangulation of confusion and justice, involving EMS, the prison, and the probation service.”
Delap was among several dozen Just Stop Oil supporters who, during a four-day campaign, climbed gantries over the M25, which encircles London, forcing police to stop traffic and leaving an estimated 709,000 drivers stuck in tailbacks.
At the time of Delap’s sentence, her MP, Carla Denyer, said she had deep concern over the “disproportionate sentence” given to her constituent, whose actions were “entirely peaceful and non-violent and designed to draw attention to the threat posed by the climate emergency”.
Responding to news about the tag on Saturday, Denyer said: “My jaw hit the floor when I heard about this case. It’s beyond absurd. I have gone straight to the prisons minister, Lord Timpson, about this case. This is completely disproportionate and not good use of stretched resources. This is a disproportionate crackdown on climate protesters. It’s clear that Gaie poses no threat to her fellow citizens.”
The Ministry of Justice and Serco, which manages EMS, said they were looking into the issue.
