‘No regrets’: Jailed activist Louise Lancaster on being back in Cambridge on licence

Fossil fuel activist Louise Lancaster has spoken of her time in jail after being released on licence with a tag.

Louise, from Grantchester, was sentenced to four years in prison on 4 July last year after being found guilty with four others of conspiring to organise Just Stop Oil protests that blocked the M25 motorway in 2022.

The case caused uproar, with a UN special rapporteur who attended the trial saying that the sentences were “not acceptable in a democracy”.

Louise, whose sentence was reduced by a year on appeal, was released on licence after nine months on 8 April and must wear a tag until 16 September. Until then she is also confined to her home between 7pm and 7am.

“I don’t have any regrets, because it was necessary to stimulate a public conversation. It was useful at that time,” Louise told the Cambridge Independent.

“During the trial it became clear that we were going to get quite a long custodial sentence and people engaging in any sort of activism today need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario.

“I was fortunate in that I went in with good mental health and that makes a big difference as most people are carrying trauma when they arrive in prison.”

Being in the same prison as two of the other jailed activists provided some much-needed solidarity.

“I was in the same prison as Lucia [Whittaker De Abreu] and Cressy [Cressida Gethin],” Louise notes. “We were not always in close proximity but it was very reassuring that three of us were in the same spaces. They are all strong and pleased to be released early but are also recognising that the appeal didn’t produce justice. They just decided to reduce the longer sentences. We stayed very strong throughout prison and were helping people where we could.

“We considered ourselves as just another prisoner – though other prisoners became aware of why we were there. Many had a lot of sympathy - they knew of the lack of compassion in the system so they were friendly.

“Some we will be keeping in contact with and certainly in HMP Send, where people are in for quite a long period of time, there’s quite a strong sense of community - people look out for each other and we felt part of that. Most of them don’t fit the public view of what a prisoner should be - we certainly jail a lot of people in the UK.”

The aftermath of being released from jail seems to have been quite a rollercoaster.

“It felt like a real treat to be out,” said Louise. “It was like going from black and white to colour. It was wonderful. I think it's taken a bit of adjustment - using a phone is really strange.

“I think there's a stress from being in prison: you manage while you're there, then you're tired when you’re out, it’s like when you have a holiday. The first week it all catches up with you and last week I was pretty stressed but now there’s a lot of people I’ve met so the jigsaw is starting to fill in now of life on the outside.”

Louise is sanguine about her restrictions.

“I can’t go out after 7pm as I’ve got a curfew tag which is active between from 7pm to 7am. It’s on my leg all the time, linked to a telephone device, and if I leave the house it alerts the authorities and they will come and arrest me, so I can go into the front garden but not beyond that,” she explained.

“It is what it is and better than being in prison - I was going to be in prison until September but we had a lot of support and protest around the appeal so the five of us got some reductions but I’m still on licence until February 2027. I’m restricted as to where I can go and who I can see. There's always the potential for surveillance and they track you online so obviously I’m aiming to stick within my licence conditions.

“The sentence was reduced from four to three years but I have to check in with probation regularly and if the licence conditions are broken you generally go back to prison.

“I would need to ask my probation officer if I went away on a holiday. At the moment I’m not feeling like a holiday, the way the world is going there’s work to be done to make the planet sustainable - and connecting with people is holiday enough!”

She remains deeply alarmed by the climate crisis.

“It's sobering to realise that though 89 per cent of people in the UK are concerned about climate change, the government is moving in the opposite direction. It’s important everyone feels they have a voice and that the environment can be improved in any way it can. It involves all of us,” she said.

“I’ve had support from [South Cambridgeshire MP] Pippa Heyling, plus tremendous support from a wide range of people, some I knew already, some I didn't know. The support has made a massive difference to the time I was inside.”

Right now Louise, a former teacher, is eager to develop her work with Cambridge Retrofit Hub, a not-for-profit hub “run by retrofit expert residents for residents”.

“It’s a time for looking to the community to tackle the injustices in our system,” she notes. “There’s a lot of great stuff happening in Cambridge in food and water and the environment - and in retrofitting.

“I’m going back to work where I can fit it in, I’ve got a bit more training to do, and am helping the hub get training set up for young people. I’m excited that work will be in Cambridge - and looking forward to being part of something that's going to help people be in more sustainable, more affordable and more healthy homes.”

Liberal Democrat MP Ms Heylings said: “It is good that Lou is back home and among family and friends after the successful appeal. I was pleased to help her as my constituent, particularly in her transfer from the maximum-security prison where she was being held initially.

“Lou’s original prison sentence of four years was one of the longest custodial sentences ever handed down on peaceful protestors in the UK. It is not right for MPs to interfere in the independence of the judicial system either in sentencing or appeal cases. What I have been doing is to advocate for an independent review of the legislation and sentencing practice for peaceful, environmental protest.

“In January, I made a formal submission to the independent Sentencing Review being led by David Gauke [former Secretary of State for Justice] about the overcrowding of prisons, requesting a review of the legislative changes within the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act (PCSCA 2022) and sentencing guidelines around the prosecution of peaceful environmental protest.

“In the context of severe prison overcrowding, where the government has been forced to release prisoners early, including those convicted of violent crimes, the custodial sentences imposed on individuals engaged in peaceful, non-violent protests are increasingly difficult to justify.

“Liberal Democrat MPs will always stand up for the fundamental democratic right of peaceful protest and assembly.”