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A JUDGE told Just Stop Oil activists today during their trial for disrupting an Esso oil terminal in Birmingham last year that they “should feel guilty for nothing.”
Seven of the protesters were found guilty and two were acquitted over the action last April, which pressed the demand that the government ends fossil fuel licences.
Harley Brewer, Paul Barnes, Oliver Clegg, Jon Deery, Paul Fawkesley, Naomi Goddard, Diana Hekt, Sylvie More and Alan Woods appeared before District Judge Graham Wilkinson at Wolverhampton magistrates’ court on charges of aggravated trespass.
The judge said: “It’s unarguable that man-made global warming is real and we are facing a climate emergency.
“Your aims are admirable and … are supported by the science.
“I say this, and I mean this sadly, I have to convict you. Good people doing the wrong thing cannot make the wrong thing right.
“You should feel guilty for nothing. You should feel proud that you care, have concern for the future.”
The seven activists were fined between £250 and £500 each, while the Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence against Ms Goddard and Ms More, who were therefore found not guilty.
