Star date: 26th September 2018

FIRST JAILED ENVIRONMENT CAMPAIGNERS SINCE KINDER SCOUT TRESPASS

'Protest is an essential thing in a healthy democracy...'

After four anti-fracking protesters were found guilty of 'public nuisance' for protesting at Caudrilla's Preston New Road fracking site, this morning at Preston Court three of them were jailed for over a year, while the fourth was given a 12 month suspended sentence.

The QC for one of the activists had argued that because the accused were involved in a political protest, that should have been taken into account... "No environmental protester has been imprisoned since 1932, in the case of the Lancashire Ramblers and the mass trespass on Kinder Scout" she said.

Full details here...

Today at Preston Crown Court, four anti-fracking activists were sentenced after being found guilty of 'public nuisance' last month...

The four campaigners spent a total of 99 hours on top of lorries delivering supplies to the Cuadrilla fracking site at Preston New Road and, despite Kirsty Brimelow QC arguing in court that that the public nuisance offence had no sentencing guidelines and very little legal precedent, three of them were given custodial sentences.

Roscoe Blevins, 26, and Richard Roberts, 36, were given 16 months in jail; while Richard Loizou, 31, got 15 months. A fourth campaigner, Julian Brock, 47, was handed a 12 month suspended sentence.

Kirsty Brimelow QC said that they will be the first environmental campaigners to be jailed in eighty years... ""No environmental protester has been imprisoned since 1932, in the case of the Lancashire Ramblers and the mass trespass on Kinder Scout" she said. They are certainly the first protesters to be sent to jail in the UK for anti-fracking action.

Speaking on the Facebook group Talk Fracking* before they were sentenced, the protesters were convinced they had done the right thing for the planet, linking fracking to climate change and other environmental hazards...

"Protest is a safety valve for democracy" explains one of the campaigners "We wouldn't have the vote, we wouldn't have ended slavery, we wouldn't have had civil rights, we wouldn't have had a decent working week, we wouldn't have half of the parks and open spaces that we actually have around the country if it wasn't for protest...

"Protest is what keeps the government in check, it is a very reasonable check for corporate power and for that influence that corporate power has on government" he added "It's an essential thing in a healthy democracy...

"I think we will win" he concluded "because this is a last ditch attempt to squeeze the remaining fossil fuels from the earth, it's like industry clinging on to an old paradigm of the way things operate and it's too late for that to be considered ok now..."

Another added: "They want to frack because they want some gas, some money and they want power but what's at stake for us is much bigger..."

With fracking on the cards in Salford, today's developments pose a sinister future...

* To see the full video – click here