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| Just Stop Oil: Dartford Crossing protesters jailed | Just Stop Oil: Dartford Crossing protesters jailed |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| (l-r) Marcus Decker and Morgan Trowland were found guilty of causing a public nuisance following the week-long trial at Basildon Crown Court | (l-r) Marcus Decker and Morgan Trowland were found guilty of causing a public nuisance following the week-long trial at Basildon Crown Court |
| Two Just Stop Oil protesters who scaled the Dartford Crossing bridge have been jailed. | Two Just Stop Oil protesters who scaled the Dartford Crossing bridge have been jailed. |
| Morgan Trowland, 40, of Islington, north London, and Marcus Decker, 34, of no fixed address, were suspended over the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge for about 37 hours in October. | Morgan Trowland, 40, of Islington, north London, and Marcus Decker, 34, of no fixed address, were suspended over the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge for about 37 hours in October. |
| The pair argued during the trial it was a peaceful protest but were found guilty of causing a public nuisance. | |
| Trowland was jailed for three years and Decker for two years and seven months. | Trowland was jailed for three years and Decker for two years and seven months. |
| Judge Shane Collery KC said the pair "plainly believed you knew better" than other people and were thinking "to hell with everyone else". | |
| "You have to be punished for the chaos you caused and to deter others from copying you," he said, as he sentenced them at Southend Crown Court. | |
| An Essex Police officer spoke to activist Morgan Trowland as he scaled the bridge at 04:00 | |
| The trial heard how the defendants scaled the bridge's cables at about 04:00 BST on 17 October last year, reaching a height of about 200ft (60m). | |
| Prosecutors described how they unfurled a Just Stop Oil-branded banner and "rigged up hammocks". | |
| Essex Police used a "very tall cherry picker crane" to bring the pair down by about 17:30 the following day. | |
| The bridge, which usually takes traffic southbound over the River Thames on the A282 connecting the M25 motorway between Essex and Kent, was reopened at about 21:00 - 41 hours after the demonstration began. | |
| Prosecutors said the closure caused "gridlock for miles around" and delayed almost 565,000 drivers. | |
| The activists were on the bridge for about 37 hours | |
| The crossing was reopened after about 41 hours | |
| Giving evidence, Trowland said: "We climbed it to deliver a warning message - to put up a banner saying 'Just Stop Oil' and to speak that message through interviews with journalists." | |
| Essex Police claimed small businesses lost hundreds of thousands of pounds, including one that estimated losing up to £170,000 in earnings. | |
| The force also referenced a heavily pregnant woman who needed urgent medical help; a child with additional needs who could not access medication and a person who missed a best friend's funeral. | |
| Ch Supt Simon Anslow, from Essex Police, described the campaigners actions as "juvenile and dangerous". | |
| Just Stop Oil claimed the demonstration was in protest against new government gas and oil licences. | |
| Trowland and Decker, who have been on remand since their arrest, were told on Friday they would serve half of their term in custody. | |
| Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk | Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk |
| Related Topics | Related Topics |
| Dartford | Dartford |
| M25 motorway | M25 motorway |
| Climate change | Climate change |
| Just Stop Oil | Just Stop Oil |