Four Insulate Britain supporters have been acquitted of actions taken during Insulate Britain’s 2021 non-violent civil resistance campaign demanding that the British government insulate Britain’s cold, leaky homes.
Emily Brocklebank, Ruth Cook, Ana Heyatawin and Iain Webb stood trial at Woolwich Crown Court before Judge C Grout on common law public nuisance charges of blocking the M25 at J14 near Heathrow on September 27, 2021.
Judge Grout allowed the defendants to speak about the climate crisis in their closing speeches, unlike Judge Silas Reid’s previous Insulate Britain public nuisance trial.
They outlined their motivation to take action with Insulate Britain, their concerns for families in light of expected climate impacts, the poor state of Britain’s housing stock and the need for citizen resistance at a time when the government is unprepared for what is to come.
confession
Ruth Cook, 72, a grandmother and director of a small training company in Somerset, talks about her fears of climate breakdown, her previous experience working for a charity to provide food support to refugees in Greece and the recent flooding across England and Wales. We talked.
She questioned what would happen to Woolwich and surrounding areas when the Thames Barrier was no longer sufficient to protect against rising water levels. Cook arrived late at court because his travel had been disrupted by widespread flooding across England and Wales, including his home town.
After a six-day trial, the 12-member jury took just one hour to reach a unanimous not guilty verdict.
Following the ruling, Cook said: “I am very proud of the achievements of Insulate Britain, who take to the streets every day knowing they risk being detained.
Summoned
“Our goal was to shame governments into tackling the climate crisis by insulating their homes. “The UK has the worst housing stock in Europe, with cold and damp causing thousands of preventable deaths and forcing people to choose between eating and heating,” he added.
Of the 23 Insulate Britain jury trials on public nuisance charges to date, there have been four hung juries, three acquittals, 13 guilty verdicts and three adjournments. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) applied for a retrial in three cases in which the jury failed to reach a majority verdict.
The CPS will face at least 201 cases in around 45 jury trials scheduled to take place at Crown Courts across Inner London, Hove, Lewes, Reading and Woolwich by June 2025. A total of 56 supporters were summoned to answer counts of public nuisance.
This author
Catherine Early is a freelance environmental journalist and senior reporter. ecologist. She tweets at: @Cat_Early76.
