Extinction Rebellion co-founder Dr Gail Bradbrook sentenced for breaking £27k window

One of the co-founders of climate protest group Extinction Rebellion has been handed a suspended prison sentence for breaking a £27,500 government window at an HS2 protest.

Dr Gail Bradbrook appeared at Isleworth Crown Court on Monday December 18 after being found guilty of criminal damage for breaking the pricey window at the UK’s Department for Transport offices in London in October 2019. She was sentenced to one year and three months in jail, suspended for 15 months.

Dr Bradbrook was told to carry out 150 hours of voluntary work to be completed over 12 months.

Judge Martin Edmunds KC described her claim that her motive was to draw attention to the protest matter as "absurd".

"At least one journalist had been notified of the proposed action in advance and it was clearly your intention was to commit a crime sufficient to attract publicity," Judge Edmunds said.

“You said that you were surprised that the repair cost so much and that you assumed it would be paid for by insurance. I am sure the reality is that you did not care about how much it would cost as long as it achieved the publicity you sought.”

Extinction Rebellion described the act as "a rebellion against the government’s failure to take adequate and appropriate action on the climate and nature emergencies".

The group state that they focus on "non-violent civil disobedience" in order to demonstrate against government policy areas like oil and gas licences and renewable energy.

In September, protesters poured fake oil over the steps of Labour's London headquarters on Blackfriars Rd, calling on the party to take "urgent action" to cancel fossil fuel licences.

Game of Thrones actor Jerome Flynn was amongst Dr Bradbrook’s supporters who came to Isleworth Crown Court.

Speaking to LondonWorld before the sentencing Mr Flynn said: "There’s a crime at the heart of this case this morning and it's not Gail smashing a window. It's the plan that HS2 was, and still is in part, which is a crime against nature and our children’s futures.”

Following her sentencing Dr Bradbrook said: “Activists are facing criminal conviction for sounding the alarm about the climate crisis while those responsible for destroying the life support systems of the entire Earth are not being held to account by our failing courts.

“Worse still, corporate courts are allowing fossil fuel criminals to sue governments for climate-friendly policies and punishing injunctions and authoritarian laws crafted by fossil fuel-funded politicians are being used to crush our democracy and our right to protest."