Serial eco lawbreaker arrested more than 16 times at XR protests who sparked fury by using GoFundMe page to pay off court fines is spared jail AGAIN (and triumphantly waves Insulate Britain banner outside court)
A serial eco-lawbreaker who has been arrested more than 16 times at Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain protests has today avoided jail.
Gabriella Ditton sparked fury by using GoFundMe to raise more than £2,000 to pay off her fines for offences of criminal damage and public nuisance.
The 29-year-old sobbed at Hove Crown Court as she pleaded guilty to one count of causing a public nuisance for bringing the M25 to a standstill – before she and her fellow protesters were spared jail.
Ditton brought chaos to the roads at rush hour by walking out onto the motorway at Junction 1 on September 15, 2021.
She and others sat down on the carriageway, bringing traffic to a standstill and causing fury among commuters. Some glued themselves to the road surface while Ditton, acting as a ‘roving’ protester, filmed the action and the police response to it.
Gabriella Ditton unveiling an Insulate Britain banner with co-defendants Nicholas Onely, Janine Eagling and David Crawford outside Hove Crown Court
Ditton leaving Hove Crown Court after she was spared jail
Gabriella Ditton among climate protesters blocking Lambeth Bridge in November 2021
The court heard that at one stage during the protest a mother with a two-week-old baby in the car pleaded with the protesters to let her through.
A young mother, who was taking her two other children to school, told the Insulate Britain protesters she needed to feed her baby and had no food in the car. The desperate parent told the group she intended to feed the baby when she reached her destination.
Furious motorists supported her and began to shout at the protesters to let her through and she was eventually allowed to pass.
Alex Young, prosecuting, said: ‘A mother was travelling with two children to school with a two-week old baby in the car. She had no food for the baby and tried to reason with the defendants but they were immune to her appeals. The group eventually allowed her to pass.’
‘This was the second day of action taken by the group known as Insulate Britain. The action was designed to bring maximum disruption at rush hour to the travelling public near the Dartford Crossing.’
Mr Young said: ‘Each protester prolonged the process of the arrest by requiring four police officers to carry them off.’
Ditton being arrested by police following a protest outside a Barclays
Ditton has been sentenced to carry 150 hours unpaid work and ordered her to pay £700 costs while Crawford and Onely got 120 hours and £800 costs and Eagling received 100 hours and £800 costs
Around three hours after the action first began she lay down in the carriageway and was the last protester to be carried off and arrested by police.
Mr Young said Ditton was a persistent offender with an extensive history of protest both in England and Scotland, causing criminal damage, blocking roads and breaching court orders.
The demonstration on September 15, 2021 was planned to coincide with the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow.
In mitigation Ditton said: ‘I don’t understand how we can have statues of Gandhi and Mandela and the suffragettes in Parliament Square yet I stand in court today. I can’t believe it. I believe history will prove us right but that doesn’t help me now.’
Breaking down in tears, she told the Judge Jeremy Gold KC: ‘I don’t have any plans to do any more actions but I would be lying to you if I told you I’m not going to do any more ever again.’
Judge Gold told her previous convictions meant she was at risk of going to prison should she commit any other offences.
He said: ‘You need to think about yourself or whether to continue punishing yourself because you personally don’t have the power to make the Government do what you personally want them to do.’
Sentencing Ditton and fellow protesters, Janine Eagling, 62, Nicholas Onely and David Crawford, 70, Judge Gold admitted he had his own concerns over climate change but said it did not justify the commission of criminal offences.
Judge Gold said: ‘I entirely accept you were all deeply concerned about climate change and committed to doing what you could to avert the disasters you all feel the are on the way for the human race. However it doesn’t justify the inconvenience, financial loss and danger to other people.
‘There are lawful ways to promote the aims of Insulate Britain and this is not the way to do it.’
He sentenced Ditton to carry 150 hours unpaid work and ordered her to pay £700 costs while Crawford and Onely got 120 hours and £800 costs and Eagling received 100 hours and £800 costs.
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