Just Stop Oil student, 25, who helped eco-clowns block M25 in protest that made people miss funerals and hospital appointments avoids jail

By NOOR QURASHI[1]

Published: 19:32, 9 January 2025 | Updated: 01:46, 10 January 2025

A London-based Just Stop Oil[2] combatant who blocked the M25 after declaring it a 'site of civil resistance' has been spared jail.

Abigail Percy-Ratcliff, 25, was among those responsible for the carnage of July 2022 which saw Brits miss funerals and hospital appointments while traffic piled up for nine hours.

The eco-warrior has now been found guilty of public nuisance and handed an eight month suspended sentence along with a GBP1,500 fine.

But despite the ruling, Just Stop Oil has reassured the public it will be 'stepping into action again in 2025' with Percy-Ratcliff maintaining it was 'okay to block a road'.

The sentence also comes in spite of Percy-Ratcliff's co-conspirator Louse Lancaster, 58, having received a four-year prison term[3] for her part in the turmoil.

It was turmoil that saw the motorway blocked during rush hour and compromised for more than 120 hours.

A total of 45 people climbed gantries and the Met Police[4] spent more than GBP1million responding to the incidents.

Cressida Gethin, a 22-year-old Cambridge University[5] student, was also sentenced to four years for conspiracy to cause public nuisance.

Abigail Percy-Ratcliff, 25, was among those responsible for the carnage of July 2022 which saw Brits miss funerals and hospital appointments while traffic piled up for nine hours

Queues pile up on the M25 as a result of the Just Stop Oil protests. The motorway was blocked during rush hour and compromised for more than 120 hours

Among those affected by the actions was a bus driver who had been taking special needs children to school in Leatherhead.

Ashley Reid, 40, from Reigate, said at the time: 'We joined [the motorway] just after 9am and we didn't arrive at school until 10.45am... with their autism [they] found it difficult to understand and stay calm.

'It was really disruptive and I felt so sorry for them... today was their last day before the summer break and they would all be changing classes so they just wanted to get to school and spend time with their teachers and friends.'

One person suffering an aggressive form of cancer missed a vital appointment due to the chaos and had to wait two months to be seen as a result.

Others were late for flights while some even missed funerals due to traffic jams caused by the protest.

The action was brought on following a heatwave that saw the UK record its hottest ever day.

It took place at the Poyle Interchange between Junction 14 and Junction 15 near Heathrow Airport and near Junction 10 between Cobham and Guildford.

Speaking prior to her trial, Percy-Ratcliff had said: 'There is absolutely no time for talking about whether it's okay to block a road.

'It's not okay to sell future generations' futures off for a profit, and that's exactly what these fossil fuel companies are doing.

The turmoil took place at the Poyle Interchange between Junction 14 and Junction 15 near Heathrow Airport and near Junction 10 between Cobham and Guildford

A police office pleads with a man as protesters from climate campaign group 'Just Stop Oil' climbed overhead motorway gantries on the M25

Cressida Gethin, pictured during a Just Stop Oil press conference in London in April, is a music student from Murray Edwards at Cambridge University

Louise Lancaster is a former teacher and mother-of-three from Cambridge, who scaled a gantry in Thurrock just north of the Queen Elizabeth Bridge

'It's exactly what our government is allowing them to do. Peaceful protesters are filling our prisons while the real criminals sit in power handing down a death sentence to future generations. We mustn't go without a fight.'

Percy-Ratcliff has worked as a bookseller at Waterstones and previously took part in protests at a Navigator depot in Thurrock in April, where activists caused fuel sites to close.

Petrol stations were also forced to shut after running out of fuel as the environmental group glued themselves to roads and blocked delivery tankers from leaving ports.

Percy-Ratcliff had said at the time of her July 2022 demonstration: 'I joined Just Stop Oil because I was worried about my future, about my sister's future, but I think a lot of us have realised this week that we're not talking about the future, we're talking about now.

'It was 40 degrees this week, and thousands of deaths are predicted across the country due to the heat.

The government will not stop pushing fossil fuels; we have to stop them.'

Other activists present at the motorway fiasco included a former teacher who was once rammed by a Range Rover mother during another protest in London, a globe-trotting eco-consultant and an ex-public schoolgirl.

News of Percy-Ratcliff's suspended sentence comes as a Just Stop Oil protester was jailed on Tuesday for criminal damage to service station pumps following a separate incident as a he invaded the pitch at Twickenham during a rugby final in August 2022.

After being convicted last October Dr Patrick Hart, 38, a GP with the Bride View Medical group in South Bristol, was sentenced to 12 months in prison by a judge.

Dr Patrick Hart, a GP with the Bridge View Medical group in South Bristol, took a hammer and chisel and cracked the display panels of 16 Esso petrol pumps in Thurrock, Essex

Dr Hart now faces being struck off or suspended by the General Medical Council for his conviction and sentence.

And only last month a row erupted in a rural Cambridgeshire village when a parish magazine published a lengthy sympathetic interview with Just Stop Oil activist Lancaster who was jailed for blocking the M25.

Some, such as politician and life peer Lord Walney, have argued Just Stop Oil should be treated like a terrorist organisation.

Meanwhile a spokesman for the group says it believes the sentences are 'disproportionate'.

References

1. ^ NOOR QURASHI (www.dailymail.co.uk)
2. ^ Just Stop Oil (www.dailymail.co.uk)
3. ^ four-year prison term (www.dailymail.co.uk)
4. ^ Met Police (www.dailymail.co.uk)
5. ^ Cambridge University (www.dailymail.co.uk)