Campaigners Exeter Court protest about people being jailed

They object to sentences for causing public nuisance

Protestors are to campaign outside Exeter's court complex in Southernhay on Friday, highlighting how a number of people have been sent to prison for causing a public nuisance to draw attention to environmental concerns. 

They will be holding signs that read ‘Stop Jailing Truth Tellers’. Similar protests will be taking place at courts around the country. 

It is in response to what they say are prisoners of conscience, including 26 non-violent protestors and one from Exeter.

Paul Bell broke the law by climbing onto a gantry on the M25 in protest against fossil fuels. He is serving a 22 month sentence after pleading guilty to causing a public nuisance.

Although with three others, he sought to disrupt traffic on the London motorway to force the government to ban new fossil fuel exploration in the North Sea. That is a policy of the new Labour administration.

The last Conservative government introduced laws to restrict some protests.

Some environmental campaigners have received sentences ranging from three to five years. A judge ruled that information about the climate crisis could not be submitted as evidence as it was ‘inadmissible opinion or belief’.

The campaigners say that they will be targeting courts, prisons and government buildings, to get their ‘Stop Jailing Truth Tellers’ message out.

Maurice Spurway, 70, a retired architect/software consultant from Exeter said: “I can’t believe they are spending over £51,000 a year to keep peaceful people in prison. At a time when we are short of doctors, nurses and teachers this can’t be the right financial priority.”

Guin Wearne, 68, a retired shop assistant from Exeter said: “It’s well-known that, when giving evidence in court, defendants are required to affirm (or swear) words to the effect: ‘I solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that I will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth’.

“Yet these peaceful protestors are being denied the opportunity to explain the motivation for their actions - surely a vital part of the whole truth?  Which means that juries are sending people to prison after being denied the opportunity to hear the whole truth.”

Nicola Beglin, a retired librarian from Exeter said: “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. A ‘democracy’ that locks up peaceful protestors is not a healthy one.” 

Organisers of the campaign, a group called Defend our Juries, had also provided other quotes for local people to send to the media, with gaps for them to insert their name and basic information, to make it look like they really had said what the group wants them to say. They wrote:

[Name], [age], a [brief personal description] from [hometown] said: 

“I’m doing this because it’s so important that the legal system does not stop people from telling the whole truth in court, and does not stop jurors from making the decision they think is right when they have all the information. Our society often seems to allow those in power to lie with impunity, but the truth - the whole truth - ought to matter. Judges like Judge Hehir may try to keep the climate crisis out of their courtrooms but like it or not it represents an existential and urgent threat to life and health in this country.”