Six Just Stop Oil protestors found not guilty of conspiring to commit a public nuisance on the M25

Alexander Wilcox was charged alongside seven co-defendants with conspiring to cause a public nuisance on the M25 in November 2022. This was the second in a series of trials following the highly publicised action between 7 and 10 November 2022, where Just Stop Oil activists climbed on to gantries over the M25, calling for an end to new fossil fuel licences.

Five alleged co-conspirators – known as the ‘Whole Truth 5’ – were convicted in trial one and given lengthy prison sentences that drew significant criticism from international organisations, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Environmental Defenders, Michel Forst. On 7 March, the Court of Appeal reduced the prison sentences for all five, stating that the original sentences were “manifestly excessive,” and that the activists’ conscientious motivations and the protections under the European Convention of Human Rights should have been factored into their sentencing. See a previous Garden Court news item on the ‘Whole Truth 5’ here.

Wilcox was only 21-years-old at the time of the offence and was found in a property on the morning of 7 November 2022, after the first climbers had scaled the gantries. Despite telling police officers immediately upon arrest that he was in London for a court appearance that morning, which was accepted by all parties at trial, he was arrested and remanded into custody for months. He was eventually released on bail, however, it took almost three years for his case to come to trial and for him to clear his name. After the four-week trial, Wilcox and five others were found not guilty. Two co-defendants were found guilty and await sentencing.

The case raises serious concerns about the wide sweep of those with sympathy for environmental protest groups into conspiracy charges, particularly since the passing of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

The Act, which sparked the ‘Kill the Bill’ protests across the country, placed the offence of public nuisance, previously a common law offence, on statutory footing. This was through creating a new and very broad offence of “intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance”. It criminalised acts, or failures to act, which “creates a risk of or causes serious harm to the public or a section of the public” or prevents the public from exercising their rights. Worryingly, the definition of “serious harm” includes “serious annoyance or serious inconvenience”.

This case and the ‘Whole Truth 5’ case received widespread news coverage, including in BBC News, The Guardian, ITV News, The Canary, and Sky News.