“MY conscience would not allow me to stand back and do nothing.”
Those were the words of Somerset Councillor Mick Dunk, who was among environmental activists jailed for protests on the M25.
In November 2022, Just Stop Oil campaigners achieved national notoriety as they undertook a series of demonstrations on the motorway around London.
Among dozens of protestors who took to gantries over the busy roadway during a week of action in 2022 was Cllr Dunk, who represents Frome West for the Green Party on Somerset Council.
And he was among six JSO members sentenced for their actions at Southwark Crown Court on Friday (December 5) – with Cllr Dunk jailed for two years and two months after being found guilty of disrupting the traffic during the demonstrations.
Sentencing, Judge Perrins said that it would be wrong to take individual actions of each defendant in isolation.
Each took part in a broad plan to cause as much disruption as possible, he said, with the protests affecting around 228,000 vehicles, causing 18,000 hours of vehicle delays and affecting nearly 250,000 people.
He said he was satisfied having heard the evidence that not one of the defendants took seriously the impact they had caused.
However, he noted that the defendants had acted on their conscience, which would lessen their culpability.
Now, Cllr Dunk has issued a statement about his actions – and his sentence.
JSO defendents at Southwark Crown Court ahead of their sentencing. Picture: Just Stop Oil
Here is his statement in full:
“On Tuesday, November 8, 2022, at about 7am, I climbed onto a gantry over the M25. I tied a large banner onto the gantry which read ‘Just Stop Oil’.
“A short time later the police closed off the traffic passing under the gantry.
“This was not an action that I took lightly, but in October of 2022 the government had decided to issue a lot more oil and gas exploration licences for the North Sea.
“All the scientific evidence suggested that this policy would have made it impossible for the UK to meet our Climate Change target to remain below 1.5 degrees warming.
“Any ‘reasonable’ person would want to prevent extreme global warming in order to protect future generations and allow them to have a future.
“Even if I did not have children and grandchildren, I would have taken that action as my conscience would not allow me to stand back and do nothing.
“The JSO gantry protest I was involved in lasted for four days. I did cause some disruption. The safety of the traveling public was my first consideration.
“I was arrested, removed from the gantry and charged with Causing a Public Nuisance.
“I was refused bail and sent to HMP Wandsworth, where I shared a cell with another gantry protester.
“Luckily, I was released on a tag with curfew conditions after eight days, whereas my much younger cell mate was kept in for over six weeks. He was suffering from climate anxiety; a term I had never heard before.
“My Crown Court trial was scheduled for September 22, 2025, nearly three years after the alleged offence.
“My trial, with five other defendants, took place over two weeks and Judge Perrins dismissed all the defences we wanted to use and ruled that the jury were only to decide if we had caused disruption on the day.
“Any evidence we gave on climate change as our motivation was ruled inadmissible in our summing up and the jury were not to consider it.
“The prosecution barrister would not allow any climate change facts in the ‘agreed facts’ given to the jury.
“We were all found guilty.
“Another gantry trial weeks earlier at Guildford Crown Court, where three defendants climbed gantries on the following day to us, was completely different.
“The judge allowed the defence of ‘reasonable excuse’, the prosecution barrister allowed 12 agreed climate change facts to be in front of the jury, and the jury decided they were all not guilty.
“Such are the variations in our legal system.
“Today, December 5, I was given a two-years-and-two-months jail sentence. I will serve 40% of the time, plus costs of £4,380.
“Four of the six defendants received similar sentences with two given suspended sentences.
“The government rules on councillor conduct specify that: I am prevented from remaining a councillor if I have “been convicted of any offence and have received a sentence of imprisonment, suspended or not, for a period of not less than three months without the option of a fine”.
“MPs have to stand down if they get a sentence or suspended of 12 months.
“I am sadly therefore unable to continue representing those who elected me, but I consider that I acted in their best interests.
“I made a stand against a government policy that was at best ill-judged but at worst, a cynical policy to keep the oil and gas lobby happy, ensuring further donations to help keep them in power.
“There is some comfort in knowing that this present Government has promised to not allow any new exploration licences in the North Sea and we have to hope that promise is kept, despite pressure from the fossil fuel industry and their spokespeople in the Conservative and Reform parties.
“We are in a climate emergency and have to act like it. It is impossible to overstate the seriousness of our situation.
“I want to thank all the council officers (and) councillors who are doing all they can to reduce our emissions in very difficult financial circumstances.”
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Cllr Shane Collins, co-chair of Frome Area Green Party, added: “I am shocked and appalled at the severity of Cllr Dunk’s sentence, especially when defendants in other court cases for the same offence were found not guilty having been allowed to mention the climate emergency to the jury.
“History tells us that peaceful direct action is needed to push politicians into action, without which women would not have the vote, apartheid would remain in South Africa, British workers would not have union rights and African Americans would not have civil rights.
“Mick Dunk is courageous and right to do all he can to stop us falling into the abyss of a collapsing climate.”
Cllr Helen Kay, another Green Party councillor in Frome, said: “Mick is a personal friend and I am devastated at this news.
“He is one of the kindest, most considerate people I know, and a reliable council colleague, taking his responsibilities very seriously.
“He took this direct action out of the same sense of care and responsibility for the planet.
“I went to court with Mick a few times and was angered to hear the judge tell the jury they should not research anything to do with climate change or fossil fuels, nor would he permit the idea of a ‘reasonable response’ to a climate emergency to be considered as a defence.
“We will be organizing a fundraiser to pay his fine, so please contact me if you can help.”
Martin Dimery, Cllr Dunk’s co-divisional councillor, added: “Mick is highly principled, yet understanding and tolerant to others, regardless of their beliefs.
“Tragically, this sentence means he can no longer continue as a Green Party councillor.
“He has been a conscientious and well-informed colleague, always willing to help others and going beyond the call of duty.
“This sentence appears draconian and spiteful. Other judges in similar cases have been far more lenient. The outcome was arguably pre-determined by the judge in refusing defendants the right to attempt to justify their actions.
“He even ordered the jury not to research climate change before making their decision.
“At a time when prisons are overflowing and early release granted to sometimes violent criminals, it is impossible not to conclude that this sentence is politically motivated.
“Mick and his co-defendants have been made an example of.
“Meanwhile, successive governments continue to ingratiate themselves to those who are destroying the planet.
“I know many of his colleagues at Somerset Council, like us, will be devastated.”
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However, among those not supporting the campaigners was MP Sir Ashley Fox (Con, Bridgwater), who said the tough sentences were “welcome”.
“It is welcome that these tough sentences have brought an end to the recent motorway protests and contributed to Just Stop Oil collapsing as a movement,” he said.
“The individuals involved might reflect on the fact that the UK has already cut its CO2 emissions by half since 1990, while countries such as China and India continue to build coal fired power stations at scale. If they want to make a global impact, perhaps they should direct their demonstrations there.
“I have always defended the right to peaceful protest, but deliberately causing chaos on major roads, stopping people from reaching weddings, funerals, job interviews and hospital appointments is not lawful and never should be.
“It is therefore concerning to see the leader of Somerset Council, Councillor Bill Revans, give the impression that he supports this unlawful activity by donating one hundred pounds towards the legal fees of a councillor jailed for criminal behaviour. He has been joined by several other Liberal Democrat councillors including the lead member for transport, Councillor Richard Wilkins.
“Residents deserve clarity. What is Somerset Council’s position? Does it support unlawful activity that causes chaos on our roads or does it stand with the law abiding public?”
By way of a sidenote to Mr Fox’s comments, it is worth knowing that in 2024, he received a £5,000 donation from First Corporate Shipping Ltd, a company run by Conservative Party donors Terence Mordaunt and David Ord.
Mr Mordaunt is chair of the Tufton Street-based Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), a group dedicated to lobbying against climate change policies, which it claims are “doing more harm than good”.
Registered as a charity, the GWPF does not reveal who funds it, but has maintained a position of climate denial. In 2014, The Independent called the GWP “the UK’s most prominent source of climate-change denial”.
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