Protesters vow to repeat juror campaign outside court

Protesters against the decision to prosecute a 68-year-old for contempt of court, after she held a sign addressed to jurors outside a London court, held their own signs outside Crown courts across the country.

Trudi Warner held up a sign outside Inner London Crown Court earlier this year where a climate trial was taking place. The sign read: ‘Jurors, you have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to your conscience.’

The retired social worker was protesting against restrictions on the defendants preventing them from mentioning climate change in their defence. The trial involved Insulate Britain protestors.

More than 200 people today replicated her action outside courts around the country, including in London, Bristol and Manchester, as part of Defend Our Juries, a public campaign which aims to ‘raise awareness of the vital constitutional safeguard that juries can acquit a defendant as a matter of conscience, irrespective of a judge’s direction that there is no available defence’.

Dr Abi Perrin, a scientist, who held a sign as part of the country-wise protest, said: ‘In 2023 telling the truth is being treated as a criminal act, with people prosecuted for displaying facts in public, and imprisoned for explaining their motivations in their own defence in a court of law. I am deeply afraid of a world where truth, science and morality are not important, or where we are not free to fight for them.’

Three generations of women from one family held signs outside Bristol Crown Court. Sarah MacDonald, 56, said: ‘I love it that I can attend with my mother and my daughter, representing the power and continuity of life, which we are all committed to serving and protecting.’

Her mother, Renee Slater, 84, said: ‘The repression of legitimate protest must still, and always be resisted.’

Grandaughter, Vivi MacDonald, 19, added: ‘The continuous measures by the government to limit protest are threatening everyone’s freedom and ability to take action or express their opinion based on our own conscience in the light of the urgent need for social, political and environmental change.’ 

A change.org petition – titled '"Please charge me" in solidarity with Trudi Warner' – asks that signatories’ names are added to a letter sent to the solicitor general last month to charge them with contempt of court if a prosecution against Warner went ahead. The online petition has received 180 signatures.

Speaking at the time of Warner’s prosecution, Sam Grant, advocacy director at Liberty, described the decision to prosecute Warner as ‘concerning – especially when seen in the wider context of increasing attacks on our right to protest’.

He added: ‘We all have the right to make our voices heard on issues that matter to us, but this government has continually narrowed our options for standing up for what we believe in.

‘As well as limits on how we can protest, we are also seeing the erosion of available defences for protestors, which has led to a situation where juries are the last line of defence for people facing imprisonment for protesting.

‘Any government that claims to care about freedom of expression must reverse the restrictions on protest put in place through the Policing Act and Public Order Act, and commit instead to protecting our right to protest.’