Just Stop Oil activists smile and blow kisses as they're jailed for protesting on M25

Judge Shane Collery KC dished out the sentences at Basildon Crown Court yesterday after “people suffered hours of delay”, adding: “Your actions were disproportionate to your aims.”

Paul Bell, 24, from Exeter, who was jailed for one year and 10 months, waved and blew kisses as he was led to the cells.

George Simonson, also 24, from Leeds, and 26-year-old Theresa Higginson, from Bedfordshire, were handed two-year sentences.

Simonsen smiled and waved to the public gallery as he was led to the cells.

However, Higginson shouted that her “vegan diet did not make her ill”.

Gaie Delap, 77, from Bristol, and Paul Sousek, 73, from Cornwall, were also jailed for one-year and eight-months.

The judge told Delap: “Age, I regret, has not brought wisdom.”

Sousek also tried to read from a document before he was bundled towards the cells by a security officer.

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A sixth eco-warrior, Daniel Johnson, 25, from Perth and Kinross in Scotland, was spared jail.

All of the defendants were either retired, students or recent graduates.

“It’s easy to be blase and dismissive when it’s not your life that’s being disrupted,” Judge Collery said.

He added: “You are all intelligent people and more than capable of working out why you’re in this position and what you need to do to avoid it.”

The group of Just Stop Oil activists all pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to causing a public nuisance, as they were about to stand trial.

However, Judge Collery appeared to accept Johnson’s remorse.

The judge told him: “I’m prepared to accept the remorse expressed as genuine.”

He described Johnson as the “only defendant with a realistic prospect of rehabilitation”.

He sentenced Johnson to 21 months in prison suspended for 24 months, and ordered that he complete 200 hours of unpaid work and pay £750 in costs.

The judge also ordered that the activists’ climbing equipment, locks and banners be confiscated.

Francesca Cociani, from Hodge Jones & Allen – who represents Delap, Bell, Johnson, and Higginson, said afterwards: “Today’s decision to imprison peaceful protesters is a grave injustice and does not align with the UK’s professed values.

“Peaceful protest is a fundamental right and a vital tool for enacting positive societal change.

“Increasingly lengthy prison terms for these types of individuals were previously unseen and it sends a disturbing message in our liberal democracy.

“We are exploring our options, including the possibility of an appeal, to challenge this decision and to defend the fundamental right to peaceful protest.”