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Three fracking protesters jailed by judge with family links to oil and gas firm FREED [View all]
Three anti-fracking activists jailed for a protest at Cuadrilla's Preston New Road site in Lancashire have been freed by the Court of Appeal.
Soil scientist Simon Blevins, 26, from Sheffield, teacher Richard Roberts, 36 of London, and piano restorer Rich Loizou, 32, from Devon, had their jail terms quashed and replaced with conditional discharges.
The trio, known as the “Fracking Three”, are believed to be the first environmental activists to be imprisoned for public nuisance since 1932.
They had been jailed by Judge Robert Altham - who the Mirror revealed has family links to the oil and gas industry.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-three-fracking-protesters-jailed-13431618
Soil scientist Simon Blevins, 26, from Sheffield, teacher Richard Roberts, 36 of London, and piano restorer Rich Loizou, 32, from Devon, had their jail terms quashed and replaced with conditional discharges.
The trio, known as the “Fracking Three”, are believed to be the first environmental activists to be imprisoned for public nuisance since 1932.
They had been jailed by Judge Robert Altham - who the Mirror revealed has family links to the oil and gas industry.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-three-fracking-protesters-jailed-13431618
The activists have been released after six weeks in prison. Sadly, Robert Altham is still at large.
Altham's Wikipedia page here (includes the snippet that his ancestor, Sir James Altham, served as a judge during the Pendle witch trials in the 17th century): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Altham
Here's The Guardian's coverage of Altham's undeclared conflict of interest:
Fracking protesters walk free after court quashes 'excessive' sentences
...
Questions over the original trial judge’s family links to the oil and gas industry were also raised in court on Wednesday. Judge Robert Altham’s father and sister run JC Altham and Sons, a company believed to be part of the supply chain for energy giant Centrica, which has invested tens of millions of pounds in fracking.
The judicial conduct investigations office later confirmed it had “received a complaint regarding HHJ Robert Altham, which will be considered in accordance with the judicial conduct (judicial and other office holders) rules 2014”.
...
It also emerged in the hearing that Altham had refused the defendants an opportunity to bring a defence of necessity in their original trial.
“The judge explicitly stated pre-trial he would not hear any evidence about fracking,” Brimelow said, explaining that such a restriction prevented her clients from bringing arguments relating to their rights to protest and free speech.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/17/court-quashes-excessive-sentences-of-fracking-protesters
...
Questions over the original trial judge’s family links to the oil and gas industry were also raised in court on Wednesday. Judge Robert Altham’s father and sister run JC Altham and Sons, a company believed to be part of the supply chain for energy giant Centrica, which has invested tens of millions of pounds in fracking.
The judicial conduct investigations office later confirmed it had “received a complaint regarding HHJ Robert Altham, which will be considered in accordance with the judicial conduct (judicial and other office holders) rules 2014”.
...
It also emerged in the hearing that Altham had refused the defendants an opportunity to bring a defence of necessity in their original trial.
“The judge explicitly stated pre-trial he would not hear any evidence about fracking,” Brimelow said, explaining that such a restriction prevented her clients from bringing arguments relating to their rights to protest and free speech.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/17/court-quashes-excessive-sentences-of-fracking-protesters
Altham's sister, Jane Watson, was one of the signatories of an open letter released by a body calling itself the "North West Energy Task Force" in 2016 titled "Lancashire business leaders to local council: 'Give shale a chance.'": https://web.archive.org/web/20160616073508/http://www.nwenergy.org.uk:80/lancashire_business_leaders_to_local_council_give_shale_a_chance
The North West Energy Task Force is funded by Centrica and Cuadrilla.
Even before this appeal verdict, Blackpool South Labour MP Gordon Marsden last week tabled three parliamentary written questions about Altham's conduct and whether it breached the judicial code.
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