Eight Just Stop Oil supporters were acquitted by District Judge Amanda Kelly at Horsham Magistrates Court today in the last trial related to the 2024 airports campaign. The group had taken action at Gatwick Airport to demand a fossil fuel treaty to end oil, gas and coal by 2030. [1]
The eight supporters were arrested during an action to block the entrance to the security check-in at Gatwick Airport with lock-on devices on 29 July 2024, during the Oil Kills International Uprising to end fossil fuels. [2]
Kate Bramfitt, Michelle Cadet Rose, Melissa Carrington, Catherine Hughes, Gregory Sculthorpe, Stephen Simpson and Mary Somerville were acquitted of the charge of locking on to cause serious disruption contrary to section 1 of the Public Order Act 2023, after they sat down in the entrance to the security check-in at Gatwick airport and attached themselves to heavy wooden boxes. Alexander Thornton, who was filming and not part of the action, was acquitted of a charge under a Gatwick Airport Byelaw that prohibits protest.
Passengers were seen climbing over the group for around 5 minutes before Gatwick Airport staff redirected them to alternative entrances. Shortly after the action commenced Sussex Police had issued a statement saying that the airport was open and operating normally and a spokesperson for the Police told the BBC that no disruption had been caused by the action. However, the group were not released from their lock-on devices for 5 hours. [3] [4]
In her ruling the Judge said “I find that the prosecution has not made me sure that the defendants caused more than minor hindrance to any passenger or passengers”. She added that there was insufficient evidence that the disruption to Gatwick Airport was more than minor. “The defendants were a relatively small group of peaceful individuals who were simply sitting on the ground attached to each other and to four relatively small wooden boxes.”
Mel Carrington, 64, a mum and former environmental consultant from Dorset said:
“I acted because I could not sit back and do nothing while our government rolls the dice on billions of deaths. The science is clear: we are entering a world of escalating heatwaves, crop failure and catastrophic suffering, yet we carry on as if everything is fine. Meanwhile the media, the government and the courts largely act as if our destructive fossil fuelled everyday life is somehow sacred. Today, I’m pleased to say that the Judge recognised that civil resistance is necessary and justified.”
Michelle Cadet-Rose, 59, a mother and grandmother from Milnthorpe, Cumbria said:
“Today the court has seen sense and realised that nonviolent civil resistance and protest is part of a healthy democracy. Airports are sites of key importance to the oil and gas industry. The UK government should be protecting its citizens from the devastation of worsening climate collapse – by phasing out oil and gas by 2030. “
Ludi (Stephen) Simpson, 72, a retired planner and Professor of Population Studies from Bradford, West Yorkshire said:
“I will continue to act out of humanity and care. I will continue to hold the government to account until it acts with determination to stop the UK carbon emissions that harm every living thing. When will the oil executives and the politicians they have bought be held accountable?”
“I’ve two adult children and I’ve been in Bradford 45 years. Since lockdown I’ve volunteered in environmental campaigns that highlight local issues and solutions, and in climate action to demand that our national politicians step up to do things in our interests.I think climate inaction from governments overshadows every short-term concern. For me the silver lining is that fixing the climate means putting people first, so it means jobs, luxury services, and great housing for people who need it most.”
Speaking before the trial, Alex Thornton, 21, a student from Falmouth said:
“I went to Gatwick Airport to record a Just Stop Oil protest. I was arrested and charged with an obscure breach of the Airports Act. My arresting officer had taken great interest in my notebook which had some notes from a couple of books I’d been reading. In his witness statement he said it contained ‘ramblings of a man who had read to (sic) many extreme books’. It feels like I’m on trial for reading and writing poetry!”
The Gatwick 8 took part on the fifth day of the Oil Kills International Uprising to end fossil fuels in which over 500 ordinary people from 22 different civil resistance groups and 14 countries across Europe, North America and Africa engaged in a campaign of civil resistance at international airports to demand a Fossil Fuel Treaty. Action takers glued themselves to tarmac, stood up in aeroplanes, glued and locked on at departure gates and held placards in airport terminals. There were 144 arrests at 31 different international airports.[7]
Tzeporah Berman, Chair, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative said:
“The citizens standing up to raise awareness of how fossil fuels are causing lethal heat waves, floods and droughts and threatening our children and our health are not criminals – history will remember them as heroes. Our laws have been distorted by the wealth and influence of the oil and gas companies that continue to call the shots to protect their obscene profits over the public good.”
A spokesperson for Just Stop Oil said:
“Today’s judgment confirms what we’ve known all along: the CPS is abusing legislation drafted with direct input from a fossil fuel‑funded think tank to criminalise peaceful dissent. Prosecuting eight people, including someone merely filming on a mobile phone, with this little evidence is not just a failure, it is authoritarian overreach.”
In 2024 Just Stop Oil successfully won its original demand of ‘no new oil and gas’ and on March 27th 2025 announced an end to the campaign of action. However, our supporters will continue to tell the truth in court, to speak out for our political prisoners and to help build what comes next.
During our 3 year history Just Stop Oil supporters have been arrested 3,300 times and imprisoned 180 times, for having broken laws that were drafted by the fossil fuel industry. After today’s sentencing there will be seven people in prison as a result of taking action with Just Stop Oil.
ENDS
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Notes to Editors
[1] Just Stop Oil is a member of the A22 Network of civil resistance projects.
April 26th 2025 was the last Just Stop Oil action, but our supporters will continue to tell the truth in the courts, speak out for our political prisoners, and call out the UK’s oppressive anti-protest laws.
Just Stop Oil continues to rely on small donations from the public to make this happen.
[2] https://juststopoil.org/2024/07/29/just-stop-oil-supporters-disrupt-gatwick/
[3] https://x.com/JustStop_Oil/status/1817827525742956617
[4] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw4yq4dvydxo
[7] Oil Kills Campaign: https://oilkills.org/2024/08/16/a-statement-from-oil-kills-we-arent-done-yet/
