Richard Roberts one of three men convicted of causing a public nuisance


Picture: Richard Robert Facebook

Richard Roberts, a piano restorer who lives on the Upper Richmond Road, Putney, was one of three men jailed for causing "significant" disruption when he clambered onto lorries during a four-day protest outside a fracking site in Lancashire.


At court (centre) with Richard Loizou and Simon Blevins (Facebook)

Judge Robert Altham told Roberts, Simon Blevins, 26 and and Richard Loizou, 31, that they remained “motivated by unswerving confidence that they are right” about the perils of fracking. He explained he could not suspend the 16-month jail terms for Blevins and Roberts, and the 15–month sentence for Loizou, because the length of their stand-offs with police at Preston New Road in Little Plumpton, Lancashire, had “vastly increased” their culpability and the harm caused.

The court heard that Roberts got through a police cordon set up on the morning of July 25 2017 as a convoy of seven lorries was expected at Cuadrilla to deliver specialist drilling equipment. Roberts stayed on the lorries for 84 hours, he told the court it was a Friday and he did not want to spend another week on top of the vehicle.

The protest is reported to have cost energy firm Cuadrilla an estimated £50,000 but the judge said it heavily impacted on local residents and businesses who depended on using the surrounding busy main road. Judge Altham said: "In this case the defendants caused costs and disruption to Cuadrilla but their other victims were the many members of public who were nothing to do with Cuadrilla... and were viewed by these defendants as necessary and justified collateral damage."

Dave Timms, head of political affairs at Friends of the Earth, said: “This historic sentencing is disproportionate and harsh. Our thoughts are with these protesters who acted out of conscience to protect the planet.”

Cuadrilla, which has received Government consent to extract shale gas at two wells at Preston New Road, told ITV news that fracking is likely to start in the next few weeks.

September 28, 2018