Anti-Frack Three Freed on Appeal

Three men imprisoned for three weeks for protesting outside the Cuadrilla shale gas exploration site in northwest England were freed October 17 by the Court of Appeal in London.

Simon Blevins and Richard Roberts were sentenced to 16 months and Rich Loizou to 15 months in prison last month for causing a public nuisance – obstructing trucks carrying frack equipment. 

Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice, ruled October 17: “We have concluded that an immediate custodial sentence in the case of these appellants is manifestly excessive. In our judgement the appropriate sentence which should have been imposed on the 26th September was a community order with a significant requirement of unpaid work.” 

The judge in the original trial was reported to have family connections to a business that supplied Centrica, the 25% partner of Cuadrilla in its shale gas licences, that he did not declare. The Guardian newspaper reported October 18 that the judicial conduct investigations officer has received a complaint against the judge, Robert Altham, which will be considered.

The freeing of the three protesters has no impact on Cuadrilla’s fracking, which began October 15 and is continuing, although Loizou called for a mass demonstration outside the Preston New Road site on October 20. The three are reported to have been the first jailed in the UK for an environmental protest since 1932. A fourth man given a suspended sentence did not lodge an appeal.