It’s not often that there is good news from the courts but today there is. Nine eco-terrorists from the Insulate Britain group have been given gaol terms for defying a court order not to block roads. They have been gaoled after being found in contempt of court. The eco-terrorists have also been landed with £91k in prosecution and court costs despite some of the defendants being on benefits.

The sentences are:

Dr Ben Buse, 36 – four months

Ana Heyatawin, 58 – three months

Louis McKenchnie, 20 – three months

Roman Paluch, 28 – four months

Oliver Roc, 41- four months

Emma Smart, 44 – four months

Tim Speers, 36 – four months

James Thomas, 47 – four months

Ben Taylor, 27 – six months

The final name on the list Ben Taylor is I believe the gobshite who said that he would carry on disrupting the public despite the court order not to.

I don’t believe that the Court had any other option but to gaol these eco-terrorists as to not do so would have made a mockery of the Court and its orders. Failing to imprison these disruptive ‘Tarquins’ would have given carte blanche to every single eco-loony to do whatever they wanted to do, no matter what the cost to the public would be. Failure to enforce the decision of the court would also embolden others in other areas of commercial or family law to ignore the court as well.

These eco-terrorists have in my view got off pretty lightly bearing in mind how much they have cost the public through their selfish and pointless disruptions. Businesses have lost money, people have lost out on job opportunities and wages, ambulances have been impeded and even people going to funerals or to visit sick relatives have been prevented from doing so.

The only thing that is slightly galling about this is that they’ve got lesser sentences for both defying the courts and causing disruption that must by now be running into millions of pounds than people get for nothingburger cases such as uttering ‘hurty words’ on social media. Although these sentences will, as is the usual case be halved, with six months becoming three months and four becoming two etc, these sentences do send a message that these eco-terrorists will not be indulged.

Now that the courts have stepped up it is now the turn of the various police forces that have hitherto handled these eco-terrorists with kid gloves to be more robust in how they are dealt with. I’m a great believer in the value of protest as a method of bringing issues into the public eye, however I do also believe that the sort of long term and wanton disruption of normal people going about their business is not acceptable.

Now that Insulate Britain have been dealt with by the Courts, surely it is now time for those other upper class twits of Extinction Rebellion to be dealt with in a similar manner.