High Court dismisses contempt of court against Insulate Britain activists

Friday 4 February 2022

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The High Court dismissed an application for contempt of court against three Insulate Britain activists for breaching M25 injunction.

Proceedings to commit to prison for contempt of court, for breaching an injunction prohibiting protests which block traffic on the M25 motorway, were brought by National Highways Limited against 19 Insulate Britain activists. Owen Greenhall brought a challenge to the proceedings on behalf of one activist. Despite all those activists concerned having previously admitted being in contempt, after a contested hearing the High Court ruled that the contempt was not proven and committal proceedings were dismissed against the three activists concerned.

Other activists admitted breaching the court order and were given suspended orders for committal. During the hearing, four defendants glued themselves to the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice and were committed to prison for periods between 24 and 42 days.

Owen Greenhall, joint-convenor of the Garden Court Protest Rights Team, represented three defendants in these committal proceedings. He was instructed by Raj Chada, Laura O’Brien, Freya Colvin, Aneka Thiruraja and Francesca Cociani of Hodge Jones and Allen Solicitors.

The case has been covered by BBC News, The Guardian and the Evening Standard.

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