Brother of Just Stop Oil activist, 77, recalled to prison for Christmas because her wrists are too small for electronic tag says she is being discriminated against
Published: 16:12, 24 December 2024 | Updated: 16:15, 24 December 2024
The brother of a Just Stop Oil[2] activist has claimed his sister is being discriminated against after she was recalled to prison because her wrists are too small for an electronic tag.
Gaie Delap, a grandmother from Bristol, is set to spend Christmas[3] in jail after Serco claimed it could not fit a tag so she could remain at home.
Ms Delap could not have the tag attached to her ankle because she has deep vein thrombosis - blood clots that form in deep veins - so instead the Electronic Monitoring Service attempted to fit one to her wrist.
When this wasn't possible an arrest warrant was issued for climate protester.
Mick Delap, Ms Delap's brother, said she was calling for 'normal treatment, not this discrimination' having completed her prison sentence.
Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme he said: 'The Government is paying millions of pounds to Serco, who run the electronic monitoring service. They are supposed to be buying up tags which will fit a range of people. Gaie is not exceptional in any way.
She is perfectly normal.
'We are desperately asking them to come up with a strap that fits or an alternative electronic fingerprint system, which exists and which the Home Office[4] uses. It is perfectly within their power. Why can't they do it?'
The 77-year-old was sentenced to 20 months in prison in August for her part in disruptive protests on the M25 in November 2022.
Just Stop Oil protester Gaie Delap (pictured) is set to spend Christmas in jail after Serco claimed it could not fit a tag so she could remain at home
Just Stop Oil activists (Ms Delap on the far left) outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, where they were accused of breaking a National Highways injunction during their M25 protest in November 2022
Activists protest during a Just Stop Oil protest in Parliament Square on October 30, 2023 in London, England
The demonstration brought traffic during the morning rush hour to a standstill at more than half a dozen separate locations along the motorway, with protesters scaling the gantries to fly a Just Stop Oil flag.
During the trial the pensioner, who has multiple health conditions, suffered a stroke.
In words reported by the Daily Telegraph[5], Just Stop Oil claimed that Ms Delap 'experienced significant mistreatment in prison, suffering wrist problems after being handcuffed to a bed in hospital'.
The M25 protest triggered mass anger among motorists - with long tailbacks at several stretches of the motorway - and even prevented one man from missing his father's funeral.
However, there were figures willing to come to the group's defence, including former Newsnight host Emily Maitlis, who compared the group to Rosa Parks and the Suffragettes.
Ms Delap was sentenced on August 1 to 20 months in prison at Basildon Crown Court after breaching a National Highways injunction that sought to stop protesters grinding the M25 to a halt.
She was then one of four activists who were released early and she was freed on November 18 on a home detention curfew.
Friends and family of Ms Delap. Mick Delap (left) said she was calling for 'normal treatment, not this discrimination' having completed her prison sentence
The M25 blockade in November 2022, which saw campaigners climb gantries over the motorway, caused 50,000 hours of delays and forced a man to miss his father's funeral
Activists carried out the blockade across different parts of the M25 motorway orbiting London
The retired teacher from Bristol previously told the judge that her 'heart was breaking' for the future of her six grandchildren.
Mr Justice Soole found that she and nine of the others had not been made aware of the injunction by a Just Stop Oil mentor prior to the protest, describing the omission as a 'significant failure and breach of trust'.
According to Ms Delap's daughter, Lily Pridie, the severity of the sentence came as a shock to the family.
Upon sentencing, she said the family will 'miss the childcare' and that Ms Dalep's granddaughters, then both under one, will miss seeing her.
Delap's family have called on supporters to contact Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood to ask her to reverse the decision.
A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said: 'Gaie took action in 2022 after the government announced that it would issue over 100 new oil and gas licences.
'This was despite summer temperatures climbing above 40C, railways buckling in the heat, harvests being decimated, and the London Fire Brigade experiencing the most calls since WWII. There were 61,000 excess deaths from the heat in Europe that year.
'Gaie took this brave action out of a deep sense of duty to protect her children, grandchildren and indeed all of us.
During the trial the pensioner, who has multiple health conditions, suffered a stroke. Just Stop Oil claimed that Ms Delap 'experienced significant mistreatment in prison, suffering wrist problems after being handcuffed to a bed in hospital'
Gridlock traffic on the M25 during Just Stop Oils protest in November 2022.
The protest triggered mass anger among motorists - with long tailbacks at several stretches of the motorway - and even prevented one man from missing his father's funeral
'Meanwhile those causing real disruption - the fossil fuel executives, the water company bosses, the corrupt politicians who profited over dodgy PPE contracts, all walk free.'
Friends and family of Delap issued a statement through the campaign group in which they said: 'We are outraged by her recall to prison. We know this is cruel, and totally unnecessary. We know there are alternatives to the tag.
We know that if she had been a man, a tag would have been available to EMS.
'Because of medical conditions, Gaie requires a wrist tag, or some equivalent.
And we know from our own investigations and enquiries there are many out there.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said: 'We have a duty to enforce sentences passed down by the independent judiciary.
'The law states anyone released under Home Detention Curfew must be tagged and recalled if no alternative solution is available.'
Just Stop OilBristol[6][7]References
- ^ ED HOLT (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Just Stop Oil (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Christmas (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Home Office (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ the Daily Telegraph (www.telegraph.co.uk)
- ^ Just Stop Oil (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Bristol (www.dailymail.co.uk)