Just Stop Oil protest sentences cut after judge says leader's jail term 'excessive'

A lengthy jail sentence handed to the Just Stop Oil cofounder Roger Hallam was "manifestly excessive", the country's most senior judge has said, as she reduced his and five other climate protesters' sentences on appeal.

- Damien Gayle

Hallam was originally jailed for five years for conspiring to disrupt traffic by having protesters climb onto gantries over the M25 for four successive days in 2022. His sentence was reduced to four years.

Daniel Shaw, Louise Lancaster, Lucia Whittaker De Abreu and Cressida Gethin originally received four-year jail terms for their involvement in the same protest. Shaw's and Lancaster's sentences were reduced to three years, while Whittaker De Abreu's and Gethin's sentences were reduced to 30 months.

Gaie Delap, previously jailed for 20 months for her role in the protests on the M25, had her sentence reduced to 18 months.

The other 10 protesters who were part of the mass appeal, including Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland, who were jailed for two years and 20 months respectively for throwing paint on Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers painting at the National Gallery, had their claims denied.