Six climate change activists, including the co-founder of Just Stop Oil (JSO), have had their sentences reduced after organising what they hoped would be a massive blockade of the M25, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
Roger Hallam and 15 other protesters were jailed last year for their roles in four demonstrations held by JSO, including climbing on gantries over the M25 and throwing soup over Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers painting.
They challenged their sentences at the Court of Appeal, with their lawyers claiming they were "manifestly excessive".
The judges dismissed appeals by two women who threw soup over Van Gogh's Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London in October 2022.
In their judgment, the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, Mr Justice Lavender and Mr Justice Griffiths ruled that six of the 16 should have their sentences reduced while dismissing the other appeals.
The outcome of the challenge brought by the JSO protesters underlines that the courts could jail individuals for highly disruptive demonstrations or criminal damage, even if they had a conscientious motivation.
Baroness Sue Carr, the Lady Chief Justice, said that while protesters could argue they had a conscientious motivation, those beliefs did not preclude a judge from imposing significant jail terms.
During the hearing on Friday, about two dozen JSO supporters stood up and turned their backs on the judges while wearing white T-shirts with the words "Corruption in Court".
Hallam was originally jailed for five years for agreeing to disrupt traffic by having protesters climb onto gantries over the M25 for four successive days. 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, who climbed an M25 gantry at the age of 75, was previously jailed for 20 months.
She was told her sentence would be reduced to 18 months because the judge had not taken into account the onerous bail conditions she had faced while awaiting trial.
Last year, she was briefly returned to jail, having been released on licence, because the authorities could not find a monitoring tag small enough to fit her.
Ten other protesters had their sentences upheld.
These included Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland, who threw soup over Van Gogh's Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London, in October 2022. They saw no change in their sentences of two years and 20 months, respectively.
Baroness Carr said: "We do not consider that Ms Plummer's sentence of 24 months' imprisonment was manifestly excessive or wrong in principle. Damage caused to heritage and or cultural assets was an aggravating factor."
Her sentence for criminal damage had been "well within the range" of available terms to the judge, who had to consider the minimum period to act as an appropriate punishment.
Ms Holland's sentence had been correctly slightly shorter, said the Lady Chief Justice and two other senior judges, because she had given up taking part in such JSO protests.
The Court of Appeal also threw out the challenges of George Simonson, Theresa Higginson, Paul Bell and Paul Sousek for their roles in the M25 protests.
Larch Maxey, Chris Bennett, Samuel Johnson and Joe Howlett, who were jailed after occupying tunnels dug under the road leading to the Navigator Oil Terminal in Thurrock, Essex, also had their appeals dismissed.
Raj Chada, who represented Hallam and other protesters, said: "No country in Europe gives such draconian sentences for peaceful protests, proving we are out of kilter with the rest of the civilised world.
"We are reviewing the judgment and considering an appeal to the Supreme Court."
