CAMPAIGNERS have welcomed the acquittal of two Cumbrian “Just Stop Oil” protesters who told courts that they had a lawful excuse to disrupt traffic in London.

In separate trials, district judges delivered not guilty verdicts on two Kendal women who travelled to London to protest - 33-year-old mental health nurse Kathryn Lewis and 73-year-old retired teacher and grandmother Catherine Rennie Nash.

Both were charged after taking part in protests in London against the government granting new fossil fuel licences.

 The Just Stop Oil supporters blocked roads in Central London as part of an ongoing campaign of disruptive actions across the capital and elsewhere over the last two years.

They are demanding that the government halts the granting to all new fossil fuel licences.

Ms Lewis appeared at Stratford Magistrates Court on March 11 charged with wilful obstruction of the highway.

The protest she was involved with had blocked the road at St George’s Circus in London on October 13, 2022, the court heard. She was found not guilty. 

Catherine Rennie-Nash had her trial at City of London Magistrates’ Court over two days, March 14 and 15.

The also was charged with wilfully obstructing the highway, in her case after a protest that blocked the road at Whitehall in London on November 21 last year.

She was also cleared. In both cases, the defendants argued that their reasons for joining the protest and blocking the road were lawful and proportionate.

After the case, Kathryn Lewis said: “We’re facing unimaginable suffering on a catastrophic scale if we don't take urgent action on the climate crisis. Politicians have failed us time and time again which is why I decided to take direct action.

“As a nurse who works with children and young people, I find it deeply heart-breaking and alarming when I hear how children around the world are suffering because of the effects of climate breakdown.

“Children are innocent in all of this and yet they will suffer the most, now and in the future. It’s scary but we need to start facing the reality of this situation.

“Sadly, the climate crisis undermines all the good work that healthcare professionals like me are doing within the NHS and beyond as the health risks of pollution and global heating are so serious and far reaching.

"What kind of nurse would I be if I did not take a stand against this?”

Catherine Rennie-Nash said: “Every credible scientific body has said that any more extraction of fossil fuels will lead to swathes of the planet becoming uninhabitable, with the attendant deaths of millions through floods, fire, starvation, civil unrest and war.

“Yet the government continues to grant more oil and gas licences.

“Instead of pouring all its efforts into trying to stop this catastrophe from unfolding it’s choosing to plough ahead with yet more new oil and gas licences and shooting the messengers through its endless stream of new anti-protest laws.”

She added that the number of environmental defenders being cleared in the courts recently shows that some in the judicial system understand that a proportionate amount of disruption is completely acceptable in the face of the climate crisis.

A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said: “Instead of prosecuting grandmothers and nurses, the courts and police should focus on the breakdown of ordered society that is a guaranteed side effect of more fossil fuel extraction.

"It is a waste of public money, police time, court time and our time."

Of the Just Stop Oil supporters arrested, fewer than 50% have been convicted, said the spokesman, adding: "Politics is failing us.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has defended the Government’s decision to grant 100 new North Sea oil and gas licences, saying the decision would support thousands of jobs and was "entirely consistent" with the UK’s net zero commitments.

He said: "Even when we reach net zero in 2050, a quarter of our energy needs will still come from oil and gas and domestic gas production has about a quarter or a third of the carbon footprint of imported gas."

He said it made "absolutely no sense" to import energy supplies, suggesting that this would create a much bigger carbon footprint. 

This report was compiled from a statement issued by Just Stop Oil. The CPS have been invited to comment but had not done so at the time of going to press.

* Just Stop Oil says it has a  ‘Blue Lights’ policy,' which dictates that protesters will move out of the way for any emergency vehicles with siren sounding and ‘blue lights’ on.