Ex-husband speaks of ‘surprise’ over Louise Lancaster appeal decision as MP calls for review of law

Tim Lancaster, the former husband of jailed climate protester Louise Lancaster, has spoken of his surprise at the reduction in his ex-wife’s sentence, saying of the appeal process he “got no sense that the judges were concerned about the central issue of jailing people for raising the alarm”.

Climate campaigner Louise Lancaster, from Grantchester, had her sentence reduced on appeal from four years to three on 7 March.

The former teacher was one of five Just Stop Oil protesters – known as the Whole Truth Five – found guilty in July 2024 of planning to protest against new oil and gas licences being issued.

She was among 16 activists to receive prison sentences of between five years and 15 months in July and August last year for their roles in four demonstrations held by Just Stop Oil between August and November 2022.

Among them was Roger Hallam, the co-founder of Just Stop Oil (JSO) and Extinction Rebellion, who got five years for agreeing to disrupt traffic by having protesters climb onto gantries over the M25 for four successive days. Other protesters were sentenced for climbing on motorway gantries and for throwing soup over Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting.

The group launched a challenge to their sentences at the Court of Appeal in January, with their lawyers claiming the jail terms were “manifestly excessive” and failed to consider the protesters’ “conscientious motivation”.

In the judgement on Friday (7 March), the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, Mr Justice Lavender and Mr Justice Griffiths ruled that Hallam and those known as the Whole Truth Five should have their sentences reduced, while dismissing the other appeals.

Following the ruling, Katie de Kauwe, senior lawyer at FoE, said: “Friends of the Earth is pleased that the Court of Appeal has reduced at least some of the climate activists’ sentences.

“Ultimately however, we believe that locking up those motivated by their genuine concern for the climate crisis is neither right or makes any sense – and at a time when our prisons are so grossly overcrowded.”

Meanwhile, Tim Lancaster, speaking to the Cambridge Independent, said: “Louise is obviously excited to be getting out and seeing family and friends again but she is also concerned that there were 16 cases listed in the appeal and only a few have had sentences reduced.”

He added: “Lou and the family were surprised as we were not expecting a reduction.

“None of us feel that it is appropriate to put protesters in prison when they are deliberately putting themselves in harm’s way to draw attention to an important issue.

“However, we also sat through two days of the Appeal Court and got no sense that the judges were concerned about the central issue of jailing people for raising the alarm, rather than prosecuting those who are, through greed and selfishness, endangering other people’s lives.”

The action by Just Stop Oil which resulted in Louise’s arrest took place before Tim and Louise’s amicable split in 2023. The subsequent convictions sparked international condemnation, but in the intervening months Tim’s convictions have developed further.

“I have learned that the principles that I hold are not reflected in the current system which benefits the fossil fuel companies and investors that make money from causing climate chaos,” he said, “and safeguards the people who make weapons used to kill children rather than the Palestinians who are trying to live where their people have lived for centuries.

“I understand that the lawyers who started the appeal are considering whether to take the case to the Supreme Court and I know that many people want the repeal of the 2022 Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act which was used against Louise and many of the other political prisoners still in our jails.

“I spoke to MP Pippa Heylings on Sunday, who has tried to help Lou while in prison and I know that she is keen to remove that legislation.”

Ms Heylings, the Liberal Democrat MP for South Cambridgeshire, told the Cambridge Independent: “I have been supporting my constituent, Louise Lancaster, since her conviction for conspiring to disrupt traffic on the M25 motorway as part of a climate protest.

“On the human level, I helped to overcome the delays for her transfer from the maximum-security prison in which she was being held over to HMP Send.

“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 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.”

Hanna Hindstrom, Global Witness senior investigator, called the ruling “yet another reminder of the UK’s increasingly repressive stance on peaceful protest”.

She added: “The UK’s crackdown is part of a sickening trend around the world where those on the frontline of environmental defence are paying the price.”