Appeal judges free XR protestor who glued himself to London City Airport plane – sentence cut to 4 months
A former Paralympic athlete, James Brown, who superglued himself to the roof of a British Airways plane at London City Airport to draw attention to the climate crisis has had his sentence cut from one year to four months by appeal judges. Extinction Rebellion activist James Brown from Exeter, was in September jailed by a judge at Southwark Crown Court after being convicted of causing a public nuisance. Lawyers representing Brown said there had been no reason to charge him with causing a public nuisance. They argued that the 12-month term was ‘manifestly disproportionate’ and said Brown suffered ‘unique hardship’ in prison because of his disability. The lawyers also questioned the proportionality of the decision to bring the charge, saying he could have been charged with aggravated trespass and told appeal judges that custody was not justified on the facts of the case. The double-gold medallist climbed onto the Amsterdam-bound plane before gluing his right hand to it and wedging his mobile phone in the door to prevent it from closing. He live-streamed the protest until he was removed after an hour.
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See unsympathetic article in the Daily Mail at
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See earlier:
Extinction Rebellion protests at London City Airport, to highlight the threat of its higher CO2
As part of the Extinction Rebellion protests in London, as well as in around 60 cities around the world, London City Airport was a target for action. The intention to disrupt the airport, the plans were announced well beforehand. Many XR people got into the airport, causing disruption in a non-violent manner. A smartly dressed man, who had bought a flight ticket for an Aer Lingus flight, got onto his plane and then refused to sit down. He “walked down the aisle, delivering a lecture on climate change”; this caused about two hours delay to the flight. Another, a Paralympic cycling medallist James Brown, who is visually impaired, also had a ticket for an Amsterdam flights, but when approaching the plane door, instead climbed onto the roof of the BA plane About 50 arrests were made at the airport, including those who had blocking the airport entrance or glued themselves to the terminal floor. There were delays to some flights. The airport was chosen for the action because of the glaring incompatibility of the government’s legally-binding commitment to be net carbon neutral by 2050, with expanding the aviation sector. Many of the flights from London City are leisure, (skiing, city breaks, beach holidays, etc) not for business.
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